A circus manager says his defeat in a ‘David and Goliath’ style battle with a Hollywood film company has robbed him of his heritage.
Kenny Darnell Jnr, 37, found himself fighting 20th Century Studios owned by Disney, earlier this year in a dispute over who could say they are the ‘greatest showman’ on earth.
In 2018, he registered a website called ‘greatestshowman.co.uk’ two months before the movie producers obtained a trademark for the same phrase, a year after the release of their film ‘The Greatest Showman.’
Lawyers for 20th Century Studios, which made £33 million from the musical starring Hugh Jackman, argued Mr Darnell deliberately used the name to capitalise off the movie.
But Mr Darnell, who was a professional aerial acrobat, claimed his family’s 200 years of history in the business as Paulo’s Circus meant the title ‘greatest showman’ was his birthright.
Mr Darnell, speaking to the Telegraph, said: ‘This isn’t just a legal dispute, it’s personal.
‘It feels like my identity, my heritage is being stripped away by those who’ve made millions off a fantasy version of our world. This isn’t about money.
‘It’s about history and it’s about a family who’s still fighting to preserve something real, something magical and something earned, not imagined in Hollywood but lived in sawdust rings across generations.’
Kenny Darnell Jnr, 37, is the manager and circus ringleader of Paulo’s Circus
20th Century Fox has filed legal papers, claiming Mr Darnell used the domain to profit of the success of The Greatest Showman movie starring Hugh Jackman
He found himself fighting 20th Century Studios owned by Disney, earlier this yea
After refusing to handover the name of his website this February, Mr Darnell was dragged before ‘Nominet UK’, which regulates website names.
The circus manager argued he had no intention of making money off or gaining more customers from using the same title of the film and was unaware of its release date.
But the Hollywood lawyers argued it was impossible for Mr Darnell to be unaware of the film and suggested he might have sold the name on to make a profit.
In a ruling by a Nominet expert, Mr Darnell was cleared of any suggestion that he would sell the name of the website on.
However, he was found to have attempted to ‘unfairly profit’ from the trademark.
The ruling said: ‘On the balance of probabilities, Mr Darnell did attempt to profit unfairly from 20th Century Fox’s [trade] mark by registering the disputed domain name at the peak of the movie’s success … for the likely purpose of attracting custom from people looking for the movie’s website’.
The finding added the name was ‘likely to confuse people or businesses into believing that it is connected’ to the film.
Mr Darnell’s circus has been in his family for around 200 years and he follows a generations of acrobats
He argues it is his ‘birthright’ to use the title of greatest showman for himself and his business
The result of the dispute is that Mr Darnell must now ‘transfer’ his website name to 20th Century Studios.
Mr Darnell pointed out that it is now seven years since he registered the website name, and it has taken that long for the dispute to emerge.
He added: ‘Seven years of silence, only to be accused of opportunism, of trying to profit off a name – if that had been my goal, why wouldn’t I have sold it at the peak of the film’s popularity?’
Disney were approached for comment.
