We reported one week ago that the Salem, Massachusetts-based Satanic Temple was planning on taking legal action against Netflix over the statue of the “Dark Lord” that’s on display in the fictional Academy of Unseen Arts in “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” the design of which, they say, was stolen from The Satanic Temple’s Baphomet statue.

“Yes, we are taking legal action regarding #TheChillingAdventuresofSabrina appropriating our copyrighted monument design to promote their asinine Satanic Panic fiction,” co-founder and spokesperson Lucien Greaves had tweeted. “I’m amazed that anybody is confused as to why we would seek legal remedy over Sabrina using our monument. Would they be as understanding of a fictional show that used a real mosque as the HQ of a terrorist cell? A fictional Blood Libel tale implicating real world Jews?”

Subsequently, Greaves tweeted out a photo that put the show’s Dark Lord statue side-by-side with the Temple’s Baphomet statue (below), highlighting the similarities between the two. Greaves hoped, he noted at the time, that Netflix would digitally remove the statue from the show. One week later, The Satanic Temple has now hit Netflix and Warner Bros. with a lawsuit.

As reported by Deadline today, The Satanic Temple is suing Netflix/WB for $50 million.

“This case presents, among other things, a textbook example of the hornbook explanation of copyright protection that copyright law protects unique expressions, but not the ideas themselves,” lawyer Bruce Lederman said on behalf of the Temple in a complaint filed in federal court this morning (read it here). “What makes this case particularly striking and significant is that it arises in the context of Defendants who are highly sophisticated media production and distribution companies which blatantly misappropriated Plaintiff’s unique expression of an idea even though they have a long history of vigorously protecting their own intellectual property.”

The main issue here is that “Chilling Adventures,” The Satanic Temple feels, misappropriates their imagery, using it to represent evil deeds that do not reflect their values. They say, “The prominent use of symbol as the central focal point of the school associated with evil, cannibalism and murder blurs and tarnishes the TST Baphomet with Children as a mark of TST.”

For purposes of comparison… pic.twitter.com/AZJvmq1Cks

— Lucien Greaves (@LucienGreaves) October 30, 2018