AUSTIN, TEX.–Best Brains Inc. has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas against a comedy trio based here, and the company that supports them. The trio Jeremy Pollet, Owen Egerton and John Erler, created the locally popular stage show now called Mr. Sinus, which is staged primarily at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas.

In its filing, Best Brains Inc., which owns the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” trademark, claims “Mr. Sinus,” which was previously known as “Mr. Sinus Theater 3000” and in which Pollet, Egerton and Erler sit in the cinema’s front row, poking fun at bad movies, is infringing on its trademark.

The show has run since September 2002, and regularly sells out.

Speaking to the Austin Business Journal, Jim Mallon, president of Best Brains, said the comedy featured in “Mr. Sinus” is more adult-oriented, which he says goes against the spirit of MST3K.

“Alamo Drafthouse approached us maybe about a year ago about licensing Mr. Sinus,” Mallon told the newspaper. “But the more we looked into it, the less comfortable we felt about it. The way they represent their product is different than the way we do ours. Ours is really more for any viewer, while they seemed to be going in a different direction creatively. We just want them to stop using our name.”

Editors note: Satellite News is sanctioned by, but is not owned or directed by Best Brains Inc., and is not involved in any way with this litigation.

UPDATE: The Austin trio has recently changed the name of their show to “The Sinus Show.” We’ve received no word yet on whether this will have an affect on the lawsuit.