By STEFANIE COHEN

June 9, 2008 — They stole the show, literally, a Russian impresario claims in court papers.

The founder of the “Moscow Cats Theatre” is suing an American promoter and two defectors from his troupe who, he says, swiped his act.

A $10 million lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court by Yuri Kuklachev, 59, says he hired promoter Mark Gelfman to organize a US tour, which “met with spectacular success.”.

But just days after Kuklachev ended the tour and took his cats back to Russia, Gelfman trademarked the name “Moscow Cats Theatre,” hired two of Kuklachev’s clowns – who were privy to “trade secrets,” the suit says – and created a copycat cat show, court papers say.

Kuklachev never filed his own trademark because “the Soviet Union did not have trademark laws,” said Kuklachev’s lawyer, Gary Tsirelman.

Gelfman’s son Yanis says Kuklachev has it backward. Gelfman, he says, came up with the name “Moscow Cats Theatre” and hired Kuklachev as an independent contractor during the 2005 tour.

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