Comedian loses High Court copyright battle with Steve Coogan’s production company over sitcom format

Harry Deansway laments ‘notoriously difficult’ copyright law after Baby Cow Productions defeats claim
LOS ANGELES - OCT 25: Steve Coogan arrives for the 2019 British Academy Britannia Awards on October 25, 2019 in Beverly Hills, CA

Steve Coogan DFree; Shutterstock

A comedian and writer has lost a High Court copyright battle with a production company founded by British celebrity Steve Coogan which he accused of copying the format of his series.

Harry Deansway had alleged that Baby Cow Productions’ series Live at the Moth Club (LATMC) had infringed the copyright held by his own YouTube production Shambles.

However, in a judgment delivered on 17 January, recorder judge Amanda Michaels found that Deansway’s series was “not protected as a copyright work” and even if it was she “would in any event have found that it was not infringed by the defendant”.

Deansway had brought the claim under his legal name Joshua Rinkoff. Shambles was filmed in the style of a documentary, combining scenes of live comedy with behind-the-scenes narrative in the form of a sitcom. The first series of the YouTube comedy was streamed in 2013, with a second series appearing in 2015.

LATMC was broadcast on the TV channel Dave (owned by UKTV) from December 2022 to January 2023 and was later made available for streaming on UKTV Play.

A two-day civil trial was held in November. 

The driving force behind LATMC was Rupert Majendie, head of development at Baby Cow. The judge pointed out that in his witness statement, Majendie accepted that “he vaguely recalled being aware of Shambles, but had forgotten about it when he came up with LATMC”.

Majendie said that when Rinkoff complained about it, he had a quick look at Shambles online and it did not spark any clear memory of him having seen it.

The judge said: “I take this to mean that he accepted that he had watched some of Shambles some years before making LATMC. On the other hand, I accept his evidence that he did not have Shambles in mind when he conceived the idea of LATMC.”

Deansway’s counsel submitted that the similarities between the shows were too numerous to be explained by coincidence, and must have flowed from unconscious copying.

It was suggested that Majendie had influenced the writers of LATMC, who had been called as witnesses at the trial, and this unconsciously led to the copying of characters, plotlines and other aspects of Shambles.

However, the judge said the similarities between the shows identified by the claimants “do not seem to me to raise an inference of copying”.

She continued that the main complaint was that LATMC is “set in an almost identical setting (a run-down comedy venue) and combines scenes of real comedians performing on stage with backstage scenes featuring a range of fictional characters”.

She added: “In my judgement, LATMC may have the same central underlying idea as Shambles, but that does not by itself lead to any inference that the pleaded format of Shambles has been copied as a whole or in substantial part.”

In a statement on his website following the ruling, Deansway said that while he was proud of the stand he took “it has come at great personal and financial cost”. He went on to thank the “tireless work” of his legal team, led by Keystone Law partner Lawrence Abramson and Lamb Chambers’ Tim Sampson.

“Copyright law is notoriously difficult as it is viewed through the antiquated lens of the British justice system,” he said. “My legal team wanted to set a new legal precedent that would not only have helped me but others who wish to have their ideas protected. It was always going to be a difficult ask.”

Baby Cow Productions was represented by 8 New Square’s Jonathan Hill, instructed by Wiggin.

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