Netflix Files Lawsuit Against Creators of 'Bridgerton' Musical

Dearest readers, we regret to inform you that we’ve come across some rather scandalous news.

So Lady Whistledown might write, should she find herself hard pressed to share the news that Netflix has filed a lawsuit against the Bridgerton musical.

According to NBC, Netflix has sued the creators of The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical after accusing the musical stage production of infringing upon the copyright of the Netflix series.

The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical began as a series of TikTok videos that garnered 24 million followers shortly after the Bridgerton series premiered on Netflix. The TikTok videos were based on characters from the Netflix show, with songs inspired by the series’ various stories and plots.

Netflix claims that it warned the defendants to stop, but instead, the creators went on to record and release an album, which won a Grammy award. A stage show soon followed.

Netflix said, “Barlow & Bear’s conduct began on social media, but stretches ‘fan fiction’ well past its breaking point. It is blatant infringement of intellectual property rights.”

Netflix filed a complaint against Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear just three days after that stage show sold out a performance in Washington’s Kennedy Center. At the time, Netflix hosted a live event, the Bridgerton Experience, in that same city.

In the lawsuit, Netflix said, that the Kennedy Center show “attracted Bridgerton fans who would have otherwise attended the Bridgerton Experience and created confusion as to whether Netflix had approved of Barlow & Bear’s unauthorized derivative works.”

Bridgerton series creator Shonda Rhimes released a statement saying that “what started as a fun celebration by Barlow & Bear on social media has turned into the blatant taking of intellectual property solely for Barlow & Bear’s financial benefit.”

The Netflix series is inspired by books written by Julia Quinn, who also made a statement. Although she admitted she was thrilled at first to see how creative these fans were on TikTok, “there is a difference, however, between composing on TikTok and recording and performing for commercial gain.”

Although Netflix may be losing ground in the streaming wars and recently reported losing almost a million subscribers, it still has its loyal fans due to shows like Stranger Things and Bridgerton.

Like Disney+, Netflix has already made plans to add an ad-supported tier to its subscription choices. Only time will tell if it will manage to win back some of the subscribers it has lost.