Netflix sues creators of alleged Bridgerton knockoff

Bridgerton, based on Julia Quinn’s bestselling romance novels, attracted 82 million viewers in its first season on Netflix. It was renewed for a second season, and inspired a spin-off series and live event, The Queen’s Ball, hosted in six cities.

Netflix said after Bridgerton was first released in December 2020, the defendants started posting about the series to TikTok, where they have 2.4 million followers, including creating songs based on characters, scenes, dialogue and plot points. The company said it warned the defendants repeatedly to stop, but they plowed ahead with an album titled The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical, which won a Grammy award, and their stage show.

“Barlow & Bear’s conduct began on social media, but stretches ‘fan fiction’ well past its breaking point,” Netflix said. “It is blatant infringement of intellectual property rights.” The lawsuit seeks to stop the alleged infringements, plus unspecified damages.