Cirque Du Soleil - Legal Issues

Legal Issues

In November 2003, a US federal discrimination complaint was filed against Cirque du Soleil by Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund on behalf of gymnast Matthew Cusick. The allegation was that in April 2002, they fired Cusick because he tested HIV positive. Cusick had not yet performed, but had completed his training and was scheduled to begin working at Mystère just a few days after he was terminated. Even though company doctors had already cleared him as healthy enough to perform, Cirque alleged that due to the nature of Cusick's disease coupled with his job's high risk of injury, there was a significant risk of him infecting other performers, crew or audience members. Cirque du Soleil said that they had several HIV-positive employees, but in the case of Cusick, the risk of him spreading his infection while performing was too high to take the risk. A boycott ensued and Just Out ran a story on it with the headline "Flipping off the Cirque".

An additional complaint was filed on Cusick's behalf by the San Francisco Human Rights Commission. Their complaint stemmed from the issue that the City of San Francisco bans contracts (or in this case land leases) to discriminatory employers.

Although Cirque du Soleil's position remains that this was a safety issue, not a discrimination issue, they settled with Cusick on April 22, 2004. The terms of the settlement include that the company would initiate a companywide anti-discrimination training program and alter its employment practices pertaining to HIV-positive applicants. In addition, Matthew Cusick received $60,000 in lost wages, $200,000 in front pay, $300,000 in compensatory damages and Lambda Legal received $40,000 in attorney fees.

Cirque du Soleil opposed Neil Goldberg and his company Cirque Productions over its use of the word "Cirque" in the late 1990s. Goldberg's company was awarded a trademark on its name "Cirque Dreams" in 2005.

In August 1999, Fremonster Theatrical filed an application for the trademark Cirque de Flambe. This application was opposed by the owners of the Cirque du Soleil trademark in August 2002, on the grounds that it would cause confusion and " the distinctive quality" of Cirque du Soleil's trademarks. A judge dismissed the opposition and the Cirque de Flambe trademark application was approved in 2005.