Netflix is being sued by the company that owns the “Choose Your Own Adventure” books because it claims that the “Bandersnatch” episode of the Black Mirror series infringes on its trademark and “tarnishes” its brand.
The idea behind the Choose Your Own Adventure books, first made popular in the 1980s, was that the reader was given a choice occasionally about what the characters should do, which would then send them to another page to read what happens next and make more decisions about the actions of the characters.
Bandersnatch does have a similar structure, in that it relies upon the viewer to make choices about the actions of the characters and the rest of the story unfolds in response to those decisions. The difference, of course, being that it’s video instead of written material.
So the question one could ask is, does Choose Your Own Adventure get to own all interactive entertainment? If the audience gets to shape the narrative, does Choose Your Own Adventure have to get a cut?
To thicken the plot further, Netflix was in negotiations with Choose Your Own Adventure to create content for children but the deal was never finalized. Which touches upon the book publisher’s other grievance: that Bandersnatch tarnishes their brand by being very clearly for an adult audience, with some fairly disturbing elements. It could be argued, though, that the adult focus of the movie moves it away from infringing upon the books’ copyrights since it is clearly meant for a very different audience than the books.
The lawsuit is for $25 million dollars or a quarter of the movie’s profits, whichever is more.
