Satanists, scary scripts and vampire spirits: five spooky Halloween stories
With Halloween upon us, WIPR has delved into the industry’s darkest corners to find IP’s creepiest cases. Beware, this isn’t for the faint-hearted...
1. Satanic versus...
Late last year, religious and political group The Satanic Temple took on Netflix and Warner Bros in an $50 million IP complaint entered on a monument.
The monument of Baphomet, a horned deity with a human body, features in TV series “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”.
According to The Satanic Temple, the depiction of Baphomet—a false God associated with Satanism and the occult—infringes its copyright covering the sculpture.
Four years ago, in Michigan, the group unveiled a 2.7-metre bronze sculpture of Baphomet. It’s this monument which has allegedly been directly replicated in the TV series.
It wasn’t long before Netflix settled the suit, with the group announcing that Netflix had also acknowledged the “unique elements” of the monument in the credits of episodes which had already been filmed.
On the other side, Netflix robustly protects its own IP. A month before season two of Netflix’s “Stranger Things” premiered, the streaming company sent a themed cease-and-desist letter to an unauthorised “Stranger Things” bar based in Chicago.
Emporium Arcade Bar had launched a pop-up called The Upside Down, which was “inspired by and paying homage” to the series, but Netflix requested that the pop-up be closed after its six-week run.
“My walkie talkie is busted so I had to write this note instead,” began the letter. “Look, I don’t want you to think I’m a total wastoid, and I love how much you guys love the show,” it added.
Netflix went on to say: “But unless I’m living in the Upside Down, I don’t think we did a deal with you for this pop-up.”
- Vampire bites
Just in time for the Halloween celebrations, a California company called Vampire Family Brands has accused US restaurant chain Applebee’s of trademark infringement through the sale of $1 ‘Vampire’ alcoholic cocktails.
“The Applebees defendants hijacked plaintiff’s ‘Vampire mark’ because they were desperate to get customers into their doors to buy food,” said the 27 October suit.
Vampire Family Brands sells beverages including wine and spirits under the brand names ‘Vampire’ and ‘Dracula’. The origin of Vampire wine goes back to 1988, when the company’s founder released a French bottled Algerian Syrah under the brand name ‘Vampire’.
“The signs on the window promote the $1 Vampire cocktail with a goofy picture of a vampire as in the Facebook campaign. The $1 Vampire cocktail comes with hokey teeth.
“Simply put the Applebee defendants’ marketing of the Vampire cocktail is the antithesis of plaintiff’s marketing of Vampire Wine and its other Vampire products, including its bloody mary, as upscale great tasting product,” the California company complained.
Now, Vampire Family Brands is seeking a finding that Applebee’s unlawfully diluted and diminished its rights in the ‘Vampire’ family of trademarks. injunctive relief, and triple profits.
- Horror story
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit was asked to weigh in on a dispute over the ownership of the screenplay for the 1977 horror film “Friday the 13th” in June this year.
Director Sean Cunningham asked the court to overturn a district court ruling which stripped him of his rights to the film’s screenplay, following numerous termination notices filed by the screenplay’s author Victor Miller, in a bid to reclaim his copyright.
In response to the termination notices, Cunningham sued, seeking a declaration that Miller had written the screenplay as an employee of his production company, Manny Company, so did not own the copyright for the film.
But, the US District Court for the District of Connecticut thought otherwise and ruled that Miller had written the “Friday the 13th” screenplay as an independent contractor, rather than as an employee of Manny, so was the sole copyright owner.
The case is currently on appeal.
- Scary suits
There’s always one person who shies away from a scary costume at Halloween and instead chooses to dress as a giant banana.
Two years ago, a company called Rasta Imposta took on retailer Kmart over a full-body banana costume. While this case was ultimately settled, Rasta proceeded to go after Kangaroo Manufacturing, a company that also sold a banana costume.
As the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit noted in its August 2019 decision, the case originated from a “business relationship that went bad”—Rasta had sold costumes on to Yagoozon, whose founder went on to form Kangaroo.
The US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania granted an injunction against Kangaroo, prompting an appeal to the Third Circuit which held that Rasta’s banana design met “a minimal level of creativity” required for protecting depictions of natural objects.
In the scarier costume arena, the mask featured in horror film series “Scream” is at the centre of a copyright and trademark lawsuit filed against Terry Rozier, a National Basketball Association (NBA) player.
In November last year, Fun World (which owns the Ghost Face Mask that was licensed for use in “Scream” in 1996) accused Rozier of adopting the famous mask as his own “mascot”.
The Boston Globe reported that Rozier has loved “Scream” since he was a child and even has a tattoo of the famous mask on his arm.
In early 2018, the Boston Globe reported that the nickname Scary Terry—which is the name of a character on adult cartoon series “Rick and Morty”—was attributed to Rozier by sports podcaster Coley Mick. Rozier subsequently proceeded to develop and sell merchandise based around his alter ego. The litigation is ongoing.
- Harry Potter and the docket of ire
Kickstarter campaign “The Monster Book of Monsters Film Project” was forced to change its name late last year after being hit with a copyright claim by Warner Bros.
The campaign, which took inspiration from the “Harry Potter” fandom, was aimed at raising funds for a demo reel to pitch a collection of horror stories to production companies.
But, Warner Bros claimed that the project infringed copyright surrounding “The Monster Book of Monsters”, a Hogwarts school book featured in JK Rowling’s blockbuster movie.
After Warner Bros sent a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice, all references to “Harry Potter” were removed from the page, with the title of the campaign being amended to “Monstronomicon: The Monster Film Project”.
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