The Satanic Temple has no chill when it comes to copyright law. They have sent a cease and desist order to Netflix over the portrayal of the show's Baphomet statue in the new series, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
The Temple built their version of the Baphomet statue (using crowd funding) as a way to protest religious freedoms, when a statue of the ten commandments was proposed to be erected in Florida. The Temple says the design of the statue was their original creation, and the Baphomet statue in the Netflix show bares too much of a striking resemblance, including featuring two children looking up at the goat-man. Variety reports:
The temple has gained a certain amount of publicity for those efforts, and now alleges that the producers of “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” are profiting from its work. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in New York, alleges that four episodes of the show feature a Baphomet statue that bears a striking resemblance to the one created by the temple.
According to the suit, the temple created its statue in 2013 and 2014, basing it on iconography dating to the 19th century. The suit alleges that the statue contains several elements that make it an “original expression,” and subject to copyright. The statue features two children looking up in awe at a goat-headed man-beast. The temple says the statue cost about $100,000 to design and build.
Netflix declined to comment on the suit.
