Netflix and Chooseco LLC, an American publishing company, known for its "Choose Your Own Adventure" book, have finally settled the longtime bitter lawsuit following Netflix's interactive dystopian Bandersnatch release.
As The Hollywood Reported noted, Chooseco will maintain its status as the trademark holder and have applied for new classes, allowing them to generate money over downloadable animated video recordings featuring branching storylines.
Last Monday, US District Court Judge William Sessions III was told that both parties had reached a settlement behind the door, and no more trial is necessary. Both Netflix and Chooseco decided not to reveal the terms to the public yet.
Perplexing Tug of War
The lawsuit started way back in 2019, soon after the release of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, an interactive sci-fi drama, exclusively on Netflix.
Bandersnatch is a story of two game developers who develop a branching video game under the same name in the 1980s. Viewers are free to tailor the outcome of the movie by selecting the branching storyline appearing on the bottom of their screen.
In one of the scenes, the main character, Stefan Butler, tries to explain what the Bandersnatch game is about to his father, says that it's based on a fictional book. The father assumes it's a good book because his son keeps flipping it back-and-forth, to which the character replies, "No, it's a 'Choose Your Own Adventure' book."
This line prompted Chooseco to file a lawsuit against Netflix. The publishing company claims to have been using the jargon since the 1980s, selling over 2650 million copies of the "Choose Your Own Adventure" book.
Netflix did try to counter the attack, believing that the term falls into a generic catchphrase that shouldn't be trademarked. The streaming giant also noted that Black Mirror's standalone movie is different from any other interactive drama. It did seek a licensing deal from Chooseco earlier, but it wasn't about Bandersnatch.
"The physical characteristics and context of the use demonstrate that it is at least plausible Netflix used the term to attract public attention by associating the film with Chooseco's book series," judge William Sessions III wrote.
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Not the First Time
Chooseco is an aggressive pursuer and defender for its trademarks, and it doesn't matter if it's a streaming giant or a small-time indie game developer.
In late 2019, the publishing company tried to send infringement strikes to Itch.io, a website that hosts and distributes indie games, to stop creators from using the term. If a dev writes "choose your own adventure" on its game's tag, it will automatically revert to "interactive fiction."
