Netflix Files Lawsuit Against Grammy-Winning Unofficial Bridgerton Musical Duo
glamour.comBridgerton universe. Netflix has filed a lawsuit against Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear—the Grammy-winning duo who created The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical—for copyright and trademark infringement, days after the composers staged a sold-out live performance of the album at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., as posted by Deadline, claims that Barlow and Bear used “verbatim dialogue, character traits and expression, and other elements” for their own financial gain in their unauthorized musical adaptation of Netflix’s hit Regency-era romance series, created by Shonda Rhimes’s production company Shondaland and based on . “Defendants Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear and their companies (‘Barlow & Bear’) have taken valuable intellectual property from the Netflix original series Bridgerton to build an international brand for themselves,” reads the complaint. “Bridgerton reflects the creative work and hard- earned success of hundreds of artists and Netflix employees.
Netflix owns the exclusive right to create Bridgerton songs, musicals, or any other derivative works based on Bridgerton. Barlow & Bear cannot take that right—made valuable by others’ hard work—for themselves, without permission.
Yet that is exactly what they have done.”The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical originated as a viral in which Barlow sang an original song from the perspective of season-one ingenue Daphne Bridgerton called “Ocean Away.” After racking up millions of views, Barlow teamed with Bear to write a 15-track album inspired by the Netflix series’ first season, featuring original songs called “Lady Whistledown” and “Burn for You.” The album topped the iTunes U.S.
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