Comedian Harry Deansway has lost his case against Steve Coogan’s production company Baby Cow over a sitcom he claimed infringed his copyright.
A judge in London’s High Court has ruled that Baby Cow series “Live at the Moth Club,” which ran for one season on UKTV in 2022, wasn’t a copy of Deansway’s 2013 YouTube series “Shambles.”
A two-day civil trial was held in November 2024, with comedians including “The Windsors” star Ellie White and “Jurassic World Dominion” duo Alexander Owen and Ben Ashenden, who contributed to “Live at the Moth Club,” testifying on behalf of Baby Cow. The trio said any coincidences between the two shows, which both blended stand-up sets with sitcom tropes, were a coincidence.
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High Court Recorder Amanda Michaels ultimately agreed with that assessment.
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Deansway, who brought the case under his legal name Joshua Rinkoff, had alleged Baby Cow’s head of comedy Rupert Majendie, with whom he had had both a social and professional relationship over the course of their comedy careers, had copied the show. Majendie and Baby Cow strongly disputed the claim.
Coogan was not named in the suit and there is no suggestion he was involved in “Live at the Moth Club.”
In her judgment, Michaels said: “I find that the format of Mr Rinkoff’s series was not protected as a copyright work. Had I found there to be any such copyright, I would in any event have found that it was not infringed by the Defendant [Baby Cow].”
Coogan co-founded Baby Cow alongside producer Henry Normal in 1998 before selling a majority stake to BBC Studios. He has stayed on as a minority shareholder and creative director, with Baby Cow CEO Sarah Monteith running day to day operations.
A spokesperson for Baby Cow told Variety: “We’re pleased that the court has ruled that ‘Live At The Moth Club’ is a wholly original work that had creative input from a number of people who had never previously heard of ‘Shambles’ or its creator. The claim was defended on that basis and the judge has found conclusively in Baby Cow’s favor on all issues.”
In a statement, Deansway said: “I will forever be proud that I took a stand for what I truly believe was right. This has come at great personal and financial cost, but ultimately it is a price worth paying for standing up for independent creators and fairness in the creative industry.”
He added he is considering an appeal.
Read Deansway’s full statement below:
On what I believe is a dark day for creators in the media, and for me personally as I face almost certain financial ruin, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the brave step I took to stand up to the biggest comedy production company in the UK owned and backed by one of the most powerful media conglomerates in the world, the BBC. I will forever be proud that I took a stand for what I truly believe was right. This has come at great personal and financial cost, but ultimately it is a price worth paying for standing up for independent creators and fairness in the creative industry.
I would not have been able to bring the case to trial without the tireless work of my legal team Lawrence Abramson And Dr Tim Sampson who took the case under their wing. Without them I, like many other creators, (many of whom have shared their similar experiences with me throughout the last year), would have been voiceless. I’d also like to thank my friends and family who supported me when the comedy industry quietly stepped away from me.
Copyright law is notoriously difficult as it is viewed through the antiquated lens of the British justice system. 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.
There are many David Vs Goliath cases like this in the arts industry. All too often the victory is awarded to the Goliaths who have the resources and expertise available to them due to their immense wealth whilst the Davids’ plight often ends in tragedy and bankruptcy.
I urge anyone interested in the case to go through the Particulars Of Claim and the Defence, which are in the public domain, and watch both shows in order to make their own judgement (these are on the Raybot Youtube channel and UK TV websites respectively) .
Throughout the process the defendant’s team has tried to discredit my case by creating a narrative that this was a personal vendetta where I have lost all objectivity. Needless to say, I was fully supported by my legal team who also shared my views, and I doubt they would have worked on a case that was a personal vendetta against the defendant.
I categorically have no personal issue with the defendant. I think it’s important to lay out a timeline of me and the creator of LATMC Rupert Majendie’s relationship as this narrative was marginalised by a savvy, well paid army of lawyers on the defence. Over a period of five years from 2007 we became good friends going to gigs together, socialising outside of our work and eventually working together with Mr Majendie booking My live night the Fix Presents, staying in his Edinburgh flat during the fringe and eventually collaborating on our own live night Pithccok And Bentshoe. We shared similar taste in comedians.
Despite beginning to move in different circles we still followed each other’s socials and I was well aware and pleased to hear of my friend Rupert’s continued success. In 2013 after writing numerous articles about the BBC’s increasing footprint at the fringe and the risk that posed to fringe performers I did a protest on live TV along with Bob Slayer. Unbeknownst to me at the time Rupert was producing the show as you can see in this video he literally kicked me off the stage. In court this incident was pitched as a personal protest against Mr Majendie in order to further the defendant’s defence that this claim was a personal vendetta.
I went to court for an acknowledgement that my format was copied. Depending on how Baby Cow proceeds with recovering costs I will now explore all legal options including appeal but will no doubt be limited by my lack of finance and will face almost certain bankruptcy if the million pound company and their billion pound backers the BBC go after costs.
