Clowns Sue Over Copycats

Yuri and Dmitri Kuklachev are a father-son clown team who run a circus called the Moscow Cats Theater. They have been training cats since 1977 and have toured over 80 countries. Last year, Yuri and Dmitri toured the US…except, they didn’t.

Apparently, the clowns were imposters who stole the real Russians’ names, clothes and hairstyles. Now the Kuklachevs are pissed and have filed a suit in NY against the imposters, their US promoter (Mark Gelfman) and every theater where the imposters performed. The clowns are suing for “federal and common-law trademark infringement, false endorsement, unfair competition, false designation of origin, dilution of a famous trademark, and violations of anti-cybersquatting law, rights of publicity and privacy, fraud, conversion, prima facie tort and unjust enrichment.” The Russian clowns are currently seeking $10 million in damages. Read more here.