Netflix facing trademark suit over interactive ‘Black Mirror’ episode

Netflix is facing a trademark infringement suit over the “Choose Your Own Adventure” tagline in the latest episode of TV drama “Black Mirror”.

American children’s publisher Chooseco accused Netflix of wilful infringement after the December release of “Bandersnatch”, an interactive episode of the series in which viewers can choose outcomes for the protagonist.

The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Vermont on Friday, January 11.

Chooseco is the publisher of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series of gamebooks, in which readers can make choices for the characters in the books. According to the company, the “Black Mirror” episode infringes its registered ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ trademark.

The mark (US number 4889435) was registered in January 2016 and covers “a series of fiction books for young adults”.

Netflix had been in negotiations with Chooseco for a licence to use the phrase since 2016, the publisher claimed, but Netflix did not obtain a licence.

Chooseco sent a written cease and desist notice to Netflix before the release of “Bandersnatch”, the complaint said. The “Choose Your Own Adventure” phrase features in the episode’s script, in reference to a fictional book, and was used by Netflix in the marketing of the show.

The episode’s “dark” and “grim” content, including violent imagery, is “too mature for the target audience” of Chooseco’s books, the complaint said. The publisher claimed that its brand has suffered as a result of the association with the series.

Confusion over whether Chooseco’s books are connected with the series has diluted the publisher’s brand, the complaint alleged.

In a press release, Shannon Gilligan, co-founder and publisher at Chooseco, said that “Bandersnatch is not a Choose Your Own Adventure book nor does the movie adhere to the Choose Your Own Adventure rules about successful interactive storytelling”.

“We have received an unprecedented amount of outreach from people who believed we were associated with the creation of this film, including parents who were concerned that we had aligned the CYOA brand they knew and loved with content that surprised and offended them,” Gilligan added.

Chooseco is seeking costs and damages of at least $25 million.