Earlier this month, NBC announced that it would be accepting submissions for new comedy series through a website called The NBC Comedy Playground, giving thousands of aspiring filmmakers with a camera in one hand and a fistful of dreams in the other the chance to see their visions come to life on the small screen. Now they are being sued for it. Comedy Playground, a comedy workshop in Los Angeles, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Central District Court of California accusing NBCUniversal of unfair competition as well as federal and state trademark infringement. The group's complaint—which is available to read on The Wrap—alleges that the similarity between the names will leave their potential customers hopelessly confused. They claim that they've already received multiple communications from people under the mistaken impression that their comedy workshop is involved with NBC, clogging their inbox to the point where only lots of money in damages can set things right.
NBCUniversal has yet to comment on the lawsuit, presumably because they're hard at work coming up with a new name for their website that doesn't fly in the face of trademark law—something like Laughs Across America, The NBC Comedy Playground (In No Way Affiliated With Comedy Playground), or The Second City.
