Drunk Shakespeare Producers Sue Amazon Over Prime Video’s OFF CAMPUS

The company behind Drunk Shakespeare has filed a federal lawsuit against Amazon, alleging that the Prime Video series Off Campus used its name and the look of its shows without authorization, both on screen and in the campaign that promoted the series.

Brass Jar, Inc., which produces Drunk Shakespeare and its family of Drunk-branded productions, filed the complaint on Thursday, September 17, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division. The defendants are Amazon.com, Inc., Amazon MGM Studios LLC, Amazon Technologies, Inc., and Amazon Services, Inc. Brass Jar is represented by Heidi H. Tandy of Shutts & Bowen LLP in Miami and has demanded a jury trial. Variety first reported the filing.

The dispute centers on the fourth episode of the show’s first season, “The Breakup,” in which several of the main characters attend an amateur campus performance that the characters themselves call “Drunk Shakespeare.” According to the complaint, the sequence depicts a student production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in which performers and audience members drink, with on-stage audience participation and a choreographed dance number.

The filing counts six spoken references to “Drunk Shakespeare” in the episode, notes that the closed captioning capitalizes the phrase throughout, and points out that Amazon’s own episode summary on Prime Video and IMDb describes Hannah and Garrett confronting their feelings “at Drunk Shakespeare.”

Brass Jar argues that this is not incidental dialogue but use of its mark as a mark, since within the story the phrase functions as the name of a branded event. The complaint also notes that Elle Kennedy’s 2015 novel The Deal, on which the season is based, contains no Shakespeare performance and no reference to Drunk Shakespeare.

The suit extends well beyond the episode itself. It cites a May 26 post on the show’s official Instagram account in which cast members discuss the Drunk Shakespeare sequence by name, followed by fan comments saying they now want to attend a Drunk Shakespeare show. It cites a “BTS Drunk Shakespeare” video posted to TikTok by cast member Stephen Kalyn, who plays Dean Di Laurentis, which Brass Jar alleges was filmed and shared with Amazon’s knowledge and consent.

It cites production designer Dan Hermansen’s online portfolio, which labels the Episode Four sets as “Drunk Shakespeare,” and a Google AI Overview that, prompted by Kalyn’s video, described him as having an association with the real stage show. Kalyn, the complaint states, has never appeared in a Brass Jar production.

The filing also draws in the show’s brand partners, particularly Liquid I.V., whose integration with Off Campus was developed with Amazon Ads’ Brand Innovation Lab. According to the complaint, when a Threads user posted on May 23 that viewers were begging for Drunk Shakespeare to become real and tagged Liquid I.V., the brand’s official account replied asking to be told when and where. Brass Jar characterizes this as a partner of Amazon amplifying consumer confusion about a production that has existed for twelve years.

That confusion, the suit argues, cuts in both directions. Brass Jar alleges classic confusion, in which viewers might assume the company licensed or endorsed the sequence, and “reverse confusion,” in which a heavily marketed streaming series reaching tens of millions of viewers could cause the public to associate the name with Amazon rather than with the company that built it. The complaint says Off Campus drew 36 million viewers in its first twelve days, a figure Amazon has said was exceeded among its Originals Only by The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and Fallout.

Brass Jar also asserts trade dress claims, alleging that the Off Campus set copied signature elements of its venues: a bar built into the space, in-the-round runway-style staging, three tiers of seating, chandeliers, drapery, and plush leather furniture. The company describes its real productions as staged in hidden, speakeasy-style rooms with library décor and craft cocktails delivered to patrons’ seats during a roughly 90-minute performance, with tickets priced up to $500.

The company holds three federal registrations: DRUNK SHAKESPEARE, registered in November 2023 for theatre productions, and two DRUNK marks (one in standard characters, one stylized) registered in December 2024 for a range of live theatrical services including productions accompanied by bar service. All claim first use in March 2014. Brass Jar also holds a WIPO registration and has a pending application in Canada.

According to the complaint, Brass Jar’s counsel wrote to Amazon on June 3 to assert its rights and request a discussion. Amazon’s counsel responded with what the filing describes as an extensive explanation of why the program did not infringe Brass Jar’s , even though the June 3 letter had raised no claim.

The suit brings eight counts: federal trademark infringement, false designation of origin, trade dress infringement, trademark counterfeiting, violation of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, unjust enrichment, and two counts of common law trademark infringement and unfair competition.

Brass Jar seeks a permanent injunction barring Amazon from producing, distributing, or streaming content bearing its marks, disgorgement of profits, actual damages, and either treble damages or statutory damages, which under the Lanham Act can reach $2 million per counterfeit mark per type of service. No dollar figure is specified. The civil cover sheet estimates a 14-day trial.

Drunk Shakespeare has run in New York since 2014. Five actors perform as members of The Drunk Shakespeare Society, one of them having downed five shots of whiskey before taking on a leading role while the sober cast improvises, with audience help, to keep the show on track.

The complaint says more than a million patrons have attended Brass Jar Productions across six cities, that the company will present over 2,500 performances in 2026 across Drunk Shakespeare, Drunk Dracula, Drunk Pirates, Drunk Romeo & Juliet, and Drunk Christmas Carol, that Los Angeles performances begin this fall, and that it plans to expand to twenty theaters by 2028.

Off Campus released all eight episodes of its first season on May 13, 2026, and has been renewed for a second season. Amazon has not publicly responded to the suit. The allegations in the complaint have not been tested in court.