A bizarre legal war has erupted between the creators of the hit ABC comedy series The Chaser and ITV Studios Australia’s The Chase game show.
The makers of the comedy series claim the game show’s spin-off ‘Beat the Chasers’ is a copyright infringement on their brand name.
The Chaser’s founding member Charles Firth, 48, told the Australian Financial Review while they were comfortable with the show’s original title, calling the spin-off ‘Beat the Chasers’ was too much.
‘Going one step further it was called Beat the Chasers, and then they started to brand their personalities as The Chasers. They’re cramping our style,’ he began.
He said his comedy group’s social media pages were constantly receiving comments from misinformed fans asking about the game show, and it was significantly affecting his team’s brand name.
A bizarre legal war has erupted between the creators of the hit ABC comedy series The Chaser and ITV Studios Australia’s The Chase game show. Pictured: The creators of The Chaser in 2008
‘People log onto our Facebook page and leave comments about this stupid show… brand damage is in the billions, if not the trillions,’ he said.
‘We get emails every week about, “This stupid question wasn’t quite correct”, or “I think The Chaser should be sacked because they’re not very good”.’
Firth said his team was instigating legal action against ITV Studios Australia to try to put a stop to this.
The makers of the comedy series claim the game show’s spin-off called Beat the Chasers (pictured) is infringing on their brand name
‘They are trading off our life’s work. We have been doing it for 25 years. If they do take this to court, our goal is to destroy them,’ he added.
In 2020, ITV went to court to attempt to trademark the name Beat the Chasers, but Firth’s team challenged it and won.
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to ITV for comment.
The Chaser is a satirical comedy team formed in 1999 that provide tongue-in-cheek commentary about political events.
Meanwhile, The Chase Australia game show began in 2015 and tests its contestants general knowledge skills against a team of quizmasters known as The Chasers.
The Chaser founding member Charles Firth (pictured) told the Australian Financial Review while they were okay with the game show’s original title, calling its spin-off Beat the Chasers was too much
READ MORE: How The Chase star Mark ‘The Beast’ Labbett overcame heartache of his cousin wife’s adultery to find romance again
