Warner Bros. and Netflix have dodged a potentially hellish lawsuit.
According to Deadline, the entertainment giants have settled a $50 million dispute with members of the Satanic Temple. The religious group filed a lawsuit against WB and Netflix earlier this month, claiming the companies "misappropriated" use of the statue that was featured in the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
"Defendants misappropriated the TST Baphomet Children in ways implying that the monument stands for evil," the Satanic Temple said in the suit. "Among other morally repugnant actions, the Sabrina Series' evil antagonists engage in cannibalism and forced-worship of a patriarchal deity."
The temple also argued that the use of the statue was unauthorized, and was therefore a copyright infringement as well as a trademark violation. Defendants claimed the monument seen in the series had design features similar to the Temple's Baphomet statue, which it commission several years ago; however, the Temple acknowledged that its iteration was based on an image that dates back centuries.
"The Satanic Temple is pleased to announce that the lawsuit it recently filed against Warner Bros. and Netflix has been amicably settled," Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves said in a statement. "The unique elements of the Satanic Temple’s Baphomet with Children statue have been acknowledged in the credits of episodes which have already been filmed. The remaining terms of the settlement are subject to a confidentiality agreement."
WB and Netflix have not publicly commented on the deal.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina debuted on Netflix at the end of October.
