{"id":75278,"date":"2019-01-11T21:08:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-11T21:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamasutra.com\/view\/news\/334236"},"modified":"2019-01-11T21:08:00","modified_gmt":"2019-01-11T21:08:00","slug":"netflix-sued-for-trademark-infringement-by-choose-your-own-adventure-publishers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2019\/01\/11\/netflix-sued-for-trademark-infringement-by-choose-your-own-adventure-publishers\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix sued for trademark infringement by ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ publishers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Netflix is being sued\u00a0by Chooseco\u00a0LLC, known for publishing the “Choose Your Own Adventure” novels popular in the 1980s\u00a0and 90s,\u00a0for alleged trademark infringement in the\u00a0interactive episode of Black Mirror, ‘Bandersnatch’<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In its\u00a0complaint<\/a>, Chooseco\u00a0points out\u00a0a scene in Bandersnatch where a character makes\u00a0reference to a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, which\u00a0seems to be the\u00a0main infringement charge against Netflix.<\/p>\n

According to the suit, Netflix apparently tried to obtain a license for Chooseco’s trademark in the past, but wasn’t able to reach\u00a0a deal with the publisher.<\/p>\n

As reported by Variety<\/a>, the suit\u00a0claims that the episode is violent and disturbing, with its “dark and violent themes” being inappropriate for\u00a0readers of the\u00a0series. The suit also claims that the themes tarnish\u00a0the \u201cChoose Your Own Adventure\u201d brand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s worth noting that Bandersnatch\u00a0is certainly not the first example\u00a0featuring\u00a0choose-your-own-adventure styled storytelling, with various video games having incorporated\u00a0choice-based storylines as well (think\u00a0Until Dawn).\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

After R.A. Montgomery, the original publisher and author of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series, passed away in 2014, his widow Shannon Gilligan took over the company.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement issued earlier today, Gilligan\u00a0explains that the episode has nothing to do with the books, and it does not \u201cadhere to the Choose Your Own Adventure rules about successful interactive storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe misappropriation of our mark by Netflix presents an extreme challenge for a small independent publisher like Chooseco,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe use of Choose Your Own Adventure in association with such graphic content is likely to cause significant damage, impacting our book sales and affecting our ability to work with licensing partners in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chooseco is seeking at least $25 million in damages, and has issued a cease-and-desist request against\u00a0Netflix\u00a0regarding its use of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” mark in\u00a0another one of its programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Netflix is being sued\u00a0by Chooseco\u00a0LLC, known for publishing the “Choose Your Own Adventure” novels popular in the 1980s\u00a0and 90s,\u00a0for alleged trademark infringement in the\u00a0interactive episode of Black Mirror, ‘Bandersnatch’.\u00a0 In its\u00a0complaint, Chooseco\u00a0points out\u00a0a scene in Bandersnatch where a character makes\u00a0reference to a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, which\u00a0seems to be the\u00a0main infringement charge against Netflix. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}