Shazam v Only Fools and Horses: A Critique of the Classification of Literary or Dramatic Characters as Independent Copyright Works

In Shazam Productions Ltd v Only Fools The Dining Experience Ltd Shazam sought to prevent the appropriation of the central character ‘Del Boy’ from the popular British television series Only Fools and Horses by an unauthorised interactive live show called ‘Only Fools The (Cushty) Dining Experience’ in which actors adopted the mannerisms, voices and catch phrases of the Only Fools characters.The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court found for the first time in UK copyright law that a literary character was a discrete copyright work separate from the script containing it. This case note explains why this is a mistaken and troubling precedent which is doctrinally confused,misconceives the nature of literary characters, abdicates the infringement analysis, and is tantamount to protecting ideas.