Judge Rules Against 'Sesame Street' Lawsuit Over 'The Happytime Murders'

The puppets of The Happytime Murders film just pulled out a win over the residents of Sesame [...]

The puppets of The Happytime Murders film just pulled out a win over the residents of Sesame Street.

Sesame Street's parent company previously filed a complaint against the upcoming STX Entertainment, who is behind the Brian Henson-helmed Happytime Murders. The complaint sought to get a temporary restraining order and ultimately a jury trial for the movie's "No Sesame. All Street" tagline. U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick has now rejected that argument, ruling in favor of the film and allowing continued use of the tagline (via Deadline).

STX responded to the news through their "attorney" Fred, Esq. "We fluffing love Sesame Street and we're obviously very pleased that the ruling reinforced what STX's intention was from the very beginning — to honor the heritage of The Jim Henson Company's previous award-winning creations while drawing a clear distinction between any Muppets or Sesame Street characters and the new world Brian Henson and team created. We believe we accomplished that with the very straightforward NO SESAME, ALL STREET tagline. We look forward to continued happytimes as we prepare to release Happytime Murders this summer."

Sesame Street's complaint originated after the first trailers started showing up for The Happytime Murders, a film that centers around puppets from the cast of a 1980s TV show being assassinated and a duo of detectives trying to get to the bottom of why. You can read a part of the complaint below, and the full filing can be found here.

"Sesame seeks to enjoin Defendants' deliberate effort to appropriate its SESAME STREET mark, and its trusted brand and goodwill, to promote their R-rated movie, The Happytime Murders, by way of a violent and sexually-explicit trailer," reads a copy of the lawsuit obtained by TheWrap. "SESAME STREET is a registered trademark of Sesame, an organization with a long and storied history of 'helping kids grow smarter, stronger and kinder.' Defendants' widely-distributed marketing campaign features a just-released trailer with explicit, profane, drug-using, misogynistic, violent, copulating, and even ejaculating puppets, along with the tagline 'NO SESAME. ALL STREET.' Defendants do not own, control or have any right to use the SESAME STREET mark. Instead, they are distributing a trailer that deliberately confuses consumers into mistakenly believing that Sesame is associated with, has allowed, or has even endorsed or produced the movie and tarnishes Sesame's brand."

STX's Fred Esq also responded to the original filing, and it was just as entertaining as you'd expect.

For now, it seems The Happytime Murders can move along as it pleases, and you can see the film when it hits theaters on August 17.

1comments