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  • Henry Park

Don't copy the Satanic Temple's statue


According to Lucien Greaves, co-founder and spokesperson for The Satanic Temple (a religious organization), the Netflix show “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" copied The Satanic Temple's statue of their deity Baphomet, and The Satanic Temple will be taking legal action presumably for copyright infringement (see link).

To see a comparison of the two statues follow this Twitter link.

The above image of Baphomet was created by Éliphas Lévi in 1856, and supposedly is the most common representation of the deity. If the The Satanic Temple created their statue based on that image, they could own the copyright on the statue because the original work is now in the public domain. The questions then become (1) did Netflix copy the statue, and (2) was there anything original and thus protectable by copyright in the copied statue.

This legal analysis in this case probably will be similar to the Statue of Liberty matter I previously blogged about.

Updated on 11/20. The Satanic Temple filed its lawsuit on November 9, 2018 alleging copyright infringement along with trademark dilution and injury to business reputation in the Southern District of New York. Case 1:18-cv-10372.

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