Satanists & Warner Bros “Amicably” End $50M ‘Sabrina’ Copyright Battle – Update
UPDATED, 12:50 PM: It sounds like a Devil’s bargain was not struck but that Warner Bros and the Satanic Temple have “amicably settled” the $50 million and an injunction seeking copyright suit the true believers brought on November 8 against the producers of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
A spokesperson for the studio declined to add more details of the confidential deal.
However, the Satanists did have a bit more to say.
“The unique elements of the Satanic Temple’s Baphomet with Children statue have been acknowledged in the credits of episodes which have already been filmed,” co-founder Lucien Greaves said in a statement Wednesday of the Netflix shown series starring Kiernan Shipka. “The remaining terms of the settlement are subject to a confidentiality agreement,” he added.
Online this afternoon, Greaves also tweeted: “So ends one of the most overpublicized of copyright claims.”
Feast on that for Thanksgiving.
PREVIOUSLY, NOV. 8 PM: The devil is often in the details, and for the Satanic Temple those details are worth “at least” $50 million and an injunction. The group filed a lawsuit today against Netflix and Warner Bros Entertainment over a certain statue from their new series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
“This case presents, among other things, a textbook example of the hornbook explanation of copyright protection that copyright law protects unique expressions, but not the ideas themselves,” lawyer Bruce Lederman wrote on behalf of the temple in a complaint filed in federal court this morning (read it here). “What makes this case particularly striking and significant is that it arises in the context of Defendants who are highly sophisticated media production and distribution companies which blatantly misappropriated Plaintiff’s unique expression of an idea even though they have a long history of vigorously protecting their own intellectual property,” the much threatening jury-seeking paperwork adds.
Really, this all comes down to a depiction of the goat-headed “historical deity” Baphomet, which the Satanic Temple says it created in part “to promote First Amendment values of separation of church and state and equal protection.”
On the launch pad for the past week, the action that took off Thursday is that a similar looking statue is placed at the Academy of the Unseen Arts that Mad Men alum Kiernan Shipka attends as Sabrina.
Yes, we are taking legal action regarding #TheChillingAdventuresofSabrina appropriating our copyrighted monument design to promote their asinine Satanic Panic fiction.
— Lucien Greaves (@LucienGreaves) October 29, 2018
Not only is the Satanic Temple peeved about what it says is its work showing up on the recently launched series from Riverdale EP Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, but also the context in which it is displayed. “These original expressions are misappropriated through use of an obvious copy which is featured prominently throughout the Sabrina Series and the central focal point of the school in the Sabrina Series which represents evil antagonists. They go on to say, the “prominent use of symbol as the central focal point of the school associated with evil, cannibalism and murder blurs and tarnishes the TST Baphomet with Children as a mark of TST.”
If you think it is hard to tarnish a Satanic Temple, you are not alone — trust me.
When contacted by Deadline, Netflix said talk to Warner Bros, and WB unsurprisingly had no comment on this highway to Hell litigation.
Related stories
'Aquaman' Producer Says Julie Andrews Has Voice Role
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
