Demon Hunter, the Christian metal band from Seattle, are suing Netflix over their hugely successful film KPop Demon Hunters, claiming that their copyright has been infringed.
The Washington state group, who have been touring for 25 years and released 12 studio albums, argue that Netflix's plan for a global concert tour celebrating their most-watched original title on the streaming platform, along with the movie and merchandise, means there is "almost complete overlap" with what they offer, which has led to trademark infringement, unfair competition, and brand confusion.
KPop Demon Hunters is a 2025 animated film about a KPop trio, Huntrix, who have double lives as demon hunters, as you may have guessed. Netflix won Best Animated Film and Best Original Song for Golden at the 2026 Golden Globes and Oscars. The video for the song has 1.6 billion views on YouTube.
Complex website reports that the band, via their company Hyde Lane, filed a trademark lawsuit in the Central District of California against Netflix, Netflix Studios, and live events promoter AEG Presents yesterday, (August 18).
The lawsuit states, "The brand that Hyde Lane has carefully built over the course of the past quarter century now faces an existential crisis, thereby necessitating the filing of this action and the granting of the requested relief from this Court."
As part of their filing, Hyde Lane included an email from someone who spent $500 on tickets to a Demon Hunter concert in Albany, New York, mistakenly believing that they’d be taking their children to a KPop Demon Hunters show.
The band argue that Netflix and AEG are "massive companies that jealously guard and enforce their own intellectual property rights wilfully disregarding the rights of others in pursuit of profits."
Demon Hunter are asking that the court order Netflix to stop using the KPop Demon Hunters name for recorded music, live shows and merchandise, and to award unspecified damages.
Demon Hunter, whose most recent album, There Was a Light Here, was released last year, have almost 350,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, while the KPop Demon Hunters cast have 27 million monthly listeners on the platform.
