Legal News

World-Famous Russian Cat Clowns Sue Alleged Impersonators

By Dan Slater

Yuri Kuklachev and his son, Dmitri, are world-famous cat clowns who, according to this trademark lawsuit, filed in May in Brooklyn federal court, founded the Moscow Cats Theatre. “Through the use of proprietary animal training methods, developed by Yuri Kuklachev, Plaintiffs became widely recognized as the world’s first performers to successfully train and perform tricks with such notoriously stubborn animals as cats,” says the complaint.

In the suit, the Kuklachevs claim that, after they returned to Moscow in 2006, upon the completion of a U.S. tour, their promoter, Mark Gelfman, secretly filed a registration with the PTO to register the “Moscow Cats Theatre” mark in his own name. As if that weren’t enough, Gelfman — allege the Kuklachevs — set up his own show involving cats, and hired several human performers.

The Kuklachevs are suing Gelfman, along with Gelfman’s performers, Ticketmaster and the venues where they performed the allegedly infringing act, for, among other things, federal and common-law trademark infringement, false endorsement, unfair competition and invasion of rights of publicity and privacy. The Kuklachevs seek $10 million in damages.

But according to Slog, a blog of the The Stranger, the Seattle newspaper, a spokeswoman for The Seattle Rep, one of the defendants, says the theater has yet to be served. The Russian clowns’ lawyer, Gary Tsirelman, told the Slog that service would be happening soon. “We’re just beginning a lengthy process.”

NY-based Tsirelman says he was referred to the Russian clowns by a colleague. “They needed a vulture in court,” Tsirelman said, “someone very vicious who does not take no for an answer. They said, ‘find us the biggest a-**** out there.’ And that was me.”

LB YouTube Video of the Day: The LB thought our kitten, William Wallace, had skills, what with his ability to tip-toe across the tops of chair-backs and scale fireplaces. You’ve got some work to do, Billy Walls! Kick-start your Tuesday afternoon with this video of the Kuklachevs’ cat theater in action.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on July 08, 2008 (boomark / email).