Netflix drops copyright infringement lawsuit against creators Unofficial Bridgerton musical, on Friday. The lawsuit does not mention whether the streamer has reached a settlement agreement with the producers. Emily Bear as well as Abigail BarlowDeadline reports. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., simply stated, “Plaintiffs Netflix Worldwide Entertainment, LLC and Netflix Studios, LLC hereby dismiss this lawsuit with prejudice.” However, it should be noted that the last two words “with prejudice” in the summary notice of voluntary termination mean that the claim cannot be re-filed.
In July, a streamer filed a lawsuit against the duo after they performed to a sold-out crowd at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and were due to perform at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Netflix objected to turning the musical into a commercial venture, stating, “Defendants Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear and their companies (Barlow and Bear) have seized valuable intellectual property from the original Netflix series. Bridgerton to create an international brand for itself.” The Grammy-winning duo had previously canceled a performance of the musical in London, where they also planned to sell some Bridgeton-product based.
Netflix also objected to Bear and Barlow misleading fans by advertising that they are using the streamer. Bridgerton trademark with “permission” when in fact Netflix “strongly objected” to it. In its complaint, Netflix stated that the fan-favorite series reflected the hard-earned success of its many artists and staff. And that “Barlow and the Bear cannot take this value, created by the hard work of others, for themselves without permission.”
Barlow and the Bear rose to fame on the social media platform TikTok when they started releasing songs based on the hit Netflix series. Then, in high demand, the duo worked on a full length album, which was released on Spotify. Netflix initially rated their efforts as part of fan culture on their social media accounts. He didn’t mind until a commercial performance at the Kennedy Center, where in Bridgerton the item has been sold.
Netflix also claimed that Unofficial Bridgerton musical interfered with his own “The Bridgerton Experience”, an in-person event that was offered in several cities and caused confusion in the minds of fans of the show. At the time of the complaint, the creator of the show Shonda Rhimes said: “What Barlow & Bear started out as a fun social media party has turned into a blatant misappropriation of intellectual property solely for Barlow & Bear’s financial gain.”
two seasons Bridgerton available on Netflix and Season 3 is currently in production. Meanwhile, you can check out Netflix’s production announcement for Season 3 below:
Source: Collider
