Chooseco LLC, the company that owns theChoose Your Own Adventureline of multi-path children’s books, has officially reached a settlement with Netflix in its 2019 copyright lawsuit over the 2018 interactive filmBlack Mirror: Bandersnatch.
The lawsuit, originally filed in Vermont, accused Netflix of effectively relying upon a nonexistent association with theCYOAbrand to market and defineBandersnatch,to the point where the film’s protagonist name-dropsCYOAto help definewhat he’s trying to dowith the game he’s making.While Chooseco and Netflix were reportedly engaged in negotiations overCYOAfor two years leading up toBandersnatch’s release, Netflix didn’t receive the license. (20thCentury Fox currently holds an options contract forCYOA.)
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Netflix’s defense in the case was to claim it was a First Amendment issue, and as such, filed a motion to dismiss in February of 2020. This motion was denied, on the basis of the judge questioning whether or not Netflix’s marketing forBandersnatchwas deliberately misleading over its connection to theCYOAbrand. The case subsequently moved on tothe pre-trial discovery phase, which involves both sides of the dispute conducting interviews and research to build their cases.
However, the lawsuit was abruptly resolved this week, when Netflix and Chooseco revealed during a status conference in court on Monday that they’d reached a settlement. The terms of that settlement have not been publically disclosed, but did involve an unusual condition: the judge, William Sessions III, would have to vacate his opinion regarding Netflix’s motion to dismiss. Sessions agreed, which renders his response to Netflix’s motion legally void. This means that no futurecourt cases that involve Netflixcan rely upon Sessions' reasoning for denying Netflix’s motion, which comes down to Netflix seemingly not wanting a bad legal precedent to be loose in the world.
TheChoose Your Own Adventurebook series originally ran from 1979 to 1998, beginning with Edward Packard’sThe Cave of Time. The original run quickly became notorious among children of the period for how its negative outcomes were oftenprofoundlydisturbing, including death,fates worse than death, and in one memorable instance, the universe itself ceasing to exist because of the reader’s mistake. Nonetheless, theCYOAseries has sold more than 265 million copies of its various books. This includes licensed versions of the basic premise that starred characters from franchises likeTransformers, Star Wars,Walt Disney cartoons, andYoung Indiana Jones.
Chooseco, founded by originalCYOAauthor R.A. Montgomery, took over publishing for the series from Bantam Books in 2005, and has been issuing new originalCYOAsever since, albeit at a much slower clip than the original series. It recently signed a deal withAmerican poet Kazim Alito produce a new three-bookCYOA, The Citadel of Whispers,which is slated to begin in 2021.
