A New York judge sided with the producers and distributors of the noir puppet comedy The Happytime Murders yesterday in a suit filed by Sesame Street producers Sesame Workshop.
U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick heard two hours of oral arguments from both sides yesterday before delivering his ruling in the matter.
Sesame Workshop filed suit last week against the Jim Henson Company and STX Entertainment claiming that the film’s advertising tag line “No sesame. All Street” which they claimed was generating confusion between their beloved children’s show and the upcoming raunchy comedy starring Melissa McCarthy.
Judge Broderick stated in his decision that Sesame Workshop did not prove that sponsors or parents were confused by the recently first trailer and poster for the film that used the tagline. The New York Daily News reported that the judge said that the tagline was a “humorous, pithy way” to differentiate the two and did not cause confusion by conflating the two.
McCarthy stars in the film which sees her character teaming with a former puppet police detective turned private eye to solve a series of murders. The film hits theaters August 17.
