Court Drops Curtain on Theater Name Dispute

NEW YORK (CN) - The American National Theatre and Academy cannot stop American National Theater from using a similar name, the 2nd Circuit ruled.

The American National Theater was organized in 2003 in New York City as a nonprofit organization. Its name was challenged by the American National Theatre and Academy, another nonprofit company that has been around since 1935.

In a per curiam decision, the circuit upheld the district court's ruling that the long-established academy is entitled to the "exclusive use only of the precise name appearing in the statute, nothing more, nothing less."

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