Plot twist!
The Satanic Temple has sued Netflix and Warner Bros. over its use of an androgynous goat-headed statue in their dark reboot of Sabrina, the 1990s witch-themed television show, alleging that the companies are trampling on its intellectual property rights.
The temple has asked a federal court in Manhattan for “at least” $50 million on each claim of copyright and trademark infringement and injuring its business reputation. The temple also seeks an injunction to stop Netflix and Warner Bros. from continuing to distribute Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and wants the statue's image in existing episodes digitally altered.
“What makes this case particularly striking and significant,” according to the complaint, “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.”
Ouch. Talk about taking the goat by the horns.
The Satanic Temple’s statue, “Baphomet With Children,” depicts an ancient deity and was involved in another legal controversy several years ago. In protest of a since-forbidden Ten Commandments display at the Oklahoma Capitol, the temple commissioned the statue as a symbol of the separation of church and state, intending to donate for placement near the religious monument. The temple's Baphomet statue is a result of “a countless number of hours and approximately $100,000,” per the legal filing.
The lawsuit claims that a strikingly similar statue in the Sabrina series connects the image to evil and the forces against which the young witch is fighting. The danger, the temple alleges, is that when people now see its statue, they will associate it with the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and not with its original motive.
Moreover, the temple alleges that the Sabrina series' connection of the statue to evil conforms with 1980s' "Satanic panic" and runs contrary to the tenets of the temple, which “does not promote evil and instead holds to the basic principle that undue suffering is bad, and that which reduces suffering is good.” Legally speaking, the complaint alleges that the “prominent use of symbol as the central focal point of the school associated with evil, cannibalism and murder blurs and tarnishes the [Satanic Temple’s] Baphomet with Children as a mark of [the Satanic Temple].”
The complaint traces the historical origins of Baphomet, including the deity’s classic depiction produced by 19th century French occultist Éliphas Lévi, and then lists the aspects of the Sabrina series’ version it claims come directly from the temple's unique interpretation, namely children looking up at Baphomet (as well as the sexes and ethnicities of those children) and a male torso “instead of large, voluptuous female breasts,” which Baphomet has traditionally had.
Lisa Soper, the Netflix series’ production designer, told Broadly last month — before the lawsuit was filed — that any similarities between the two statues were “kind of a coincidence.”
Neither named defendant has commented publicly on the lawsuit.
Should the case move forward, the arbiter of alleged trademark infringement would be a jury, who would be asked to determine whether the statues' similarities are likely to cause confusion as to their sources.
Lucien Greaves, cofounder of the Satanic Temple, has provided this handy side-by-side via Twitter:
To this naked eye, Greaves' tweet looks like an especially challenging "spot the differences" game, which is to say, the statues do look pretty darn close.
And kidding aside, it's difficult to imagine Netflix and Warner Bros. wanting to go to a jury on this one.
