Sony Pictures Television will reportedly fight against a legal action made by a certain Bobbie Celler in a Florida courtroom over the supposed contracted appearance of the stars of the former's hit reality show "Shark Tank." The Hollywood Reporter said that show personalities Daymond John, Barbara Corcoran, Robert Herjavec and "Shark Tank" season 1-2 investor Kevin Harrington should have been doing a live tour for Celler's marketing tour of his firm in November last year. The "Shark Tour and Entrepreneur Expo," however, did not happen apparently because of the show stars' absence.
THR said that Celler's camp argued in Monday's pretrial statements that John, Corcoran, Herjavec and Harrington were pressured by the series producer, which led them to backing out from the live tour. Celler accused Sony of tortiously interfering with its business relationships. Sony, on the other hand, said that the lawsuit by Celler was filed preemptively so as to avoid getting claims of trademark and trade dress infringement. Moreover, Sony decided to turn the tables on Celler and said that the complainant had the intention to hijack the company's well-known brand, and that Celler's lawsuit was a tactic to derail, dilute or capture a similar live tour for "Shark Tank," of which it is currently in discussions wih ABC.
Interestingly, the lawsuit will also expose the intent of Sony's ownership to the "Shark Tank" brand, and that the trial will see what intellectual property the production company could enforce, THR said. Celler had insisted that some of the intellectual property of "Shark tank" has yet to be properly registered and that there is no likelihood that consumers will confuse his live tour to that of Sony's planned tour.
Celler is reportedly seeking $50 million in damages and is seeking for John, Corcoran, Herjavec and Harrington to testify as witnesses against Sony. THR said the trial is set to begin on April 14, but a possible delay is foreseen as various motions on which testimony should be heard are currently pending.
