Overview
- Hyde Lane, the corporate entity for Seattle metal band Demon Hunter, filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on Aug. 18 alleging trademark infringement, false designation of origin and unfair competition.
- The complaint says Netflix turned its 2025 film KPop Demon Hunters into a global franchise with a soundtrack, merchandise and a roughly 150-city tour with AEG, and that those moves overlap with goods and services Demon Hunter has offered for decades.
- Hyde Lane presents examples it says show real-world confusion, including a February 2026 refund request from a parent who bought $500 in tickets to the wrong show and media inquiries misdirected to the band after the film’s awards success.
- The band is asking the court to block Netflix’s use of the KPop Demon Hunters name for recordings, merchandise and live events, to recover profits and treble damages, and to have a jury try the case.
- Netflix has publicly called the claims without merit and said it will defend the suit, and the case remains at an early procedural stage with no court rulings yet.