A Christian heavy metal band is suing Netflix for trademark infringement over the name of their hit film KPop Demon Hunters.
Demon Hunter is a Christian metal band from Seattle formed more than 25 years ago. They have released 12 albums and have more than 355k monthly streams on Spotify.
Led by lead singer Ryan Clark, the band is perhaps best known for their songs “Jesus Wept,” “I Will Fail You,” “I Am Stone,” “Dead Flowers,” “Undying,” and “The Last One Alive.”
The band owns the trademark ‘Demon Hunter’ for merchandise and recorded music, and are waiting to have it registered and approved for live music.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this week by parent company Hyde Lane, Demon Hunter alleges that Netflix has created “substantial confusion” among the public regarding their brand, which will only be exacerbated when KPop Demon Hunters go on a global tour across more than 150 cities later this year. Demon Hunter’s filing explains:
“In just a year’s time, Defendants have taken step after step to move into almost complete overlap with the goods and services offered by Hyde Lane under the Demon Hunter mark. As a result of their adoption and exploitation of the ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ brand, which is confusingly similar to senior user Hyde Lane’s established Demon Hunter mark, junior users Netflix, Netflix Studios, and AEG have created a substantial likelihood of confusion (and, indeed, actual confusion has already resulted), leading consumers to believe the parties’ goods or services are affiliated, sponsored, or otherwise connected with one another.”
Citing the fact that one fan purchased more than $500 in tickets for he and his young children to see a KPop Demon Hunters concert, only to wind up at a screaming Demon Hunter show, the band points out that Netflix has made it a practice to “jealously guard and enforce their own intellectual property rights”…. while “willfully disregarding the rights of others in pursuit of profits.”
“The brand that Hyde Lane has carefully built over the course of the past quarter century now faces an existential crisis, thereby necessitating the filing of this action and the granting of the requested relief from this Court.”
Noting that monetary damages and losses at this point are “not yet ascertainable,” they are nonetheless seeking a jury trial and have asked the courts to issue an injunction to prevent Netflix from using the ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ name for merchandise, live concerts, and new albums.
