Christians can never seem to pass up an opportunity to play the poor persecuted victim. This is in keeping with my long-held theory that, at least up to a point, religion thrives on persecution. If you want to keep people in the pews and the money flowing, make them think they're being threatened.
Netflix lawyers should be able to handle this for a quick $1000 worth of billable hours. The real intent of the Christian band is to milk this for all the "persecution" donation money they can grab. Or am I being too cynical?
Christians make everything worse. Even heavy metal, which they're NOT supposed to be playing. It's considered evil by their faith. Is there nothing they won't lift their legs on to attempt to claim ownership?
They've always say that Rock n' Roll is the Devil's music and listening to Heavy Metal is a form of Satan worship... until they started using it to spread Christianity themselves.
Their lead singer sports tattoos. I guess that's NOT a violation of Leviticus 19:28 now? I wonder if any of his bandmates also got ink done despite their own god telling them not to.
When I used to teach computer seminars in hotel conference rooms (1988-92), there was a Christian Rock station around Melbourne Beach, FL that was actually good, and certainly stuff that was all new to me. I'd generally listen while in range.
But that's the ONLY example I can contribute.
There are two online American Christian organizations I believe in enough to contribute to, and their politics very closely mirrors my own "Christian minimalism", plus "justice and equality" as every Dem should hopefully desire for America.....
I don't support either heavily, but I respect what they do, and wish to learn more about how they reach MAGA. Both organizations are on the same side we are.
People who try to emulate the prince of peace are a joy. Sadly here is no way to separate the sheep from the goats, so to speak. I read several substackers who are trying to reach the white christian national evangelicals.
Two very nice Black, Jehovah's Witness ladies most unexpectedly rang the doorbell this morning, at a reasonable morning time. (Essentially a "4-time/year at best" sort of event.) Of course I talked, if only because they were kind and upbeat, and only minimally annoying in such a small dose. And Chiquita had a blast! (Meeting strangers for the very first time is her FAVorite thang!)
But the event allowed me to utter, in a louder than my normal volume, something that already feels cathartic for me....
"White people have gone CRAZY!"
Give it a shot! Can't hurt, and I think that I just may sleep better tonight, buoyed by a raft of purest truth.
My (very non-religious) mom loved them too, even the frozen food sales-guy came to her funeral, and said he always planned extra time to talk with her.
You may enjoy Martin Vazquez’s substack he speaks of issues seen through a non-default color lens.
I'm a metalhead and have been for a lot longer than this band has been around. I've never heard of them. This action by theirs will not motivate me into listening to them, either. If they were hoping to gain more listeners/more publicity, they've utterly failed in my case.
Ah, the late John Updike's favorite joint to visit, for obvious literary reasons, whenever he visited the greater Pacific Northwest area. Dude loved to start bar fights, from what I've heard./s
Today I learned that The Rabbit Box is a real place! God a friend who lived in Seattle who confirms that a band like that would *not* be popular in the area.
Which is more likely: Netflix capitalizing on a major pop culture phenomenon and coincidentally uses a name similar to a Christian rock band that few have heard of, or Netflix deliberately targeted the Christians to steal their concert tickets?
This smells like attempted cash grab by the fundies to me.
They should have filed in Texas. They'd be more likely to win with a jury too stupid to tell the difference. If you haven't seen John Oliver on Buc-ees, they think a beaver is the same as an alligator, you know, everything that swims in the water is identical.
Honestly, I have a tough time getting worked up about this one. Granted that the Christian band Demon Hunters has been around for a while. Fact is, I had heard of KPop Demon Hunters LONG before I was aware of the other (this morning, when Hemant published, actually!). As to who trademarked what when, I leave that to the courts to untangle.
Basically, though, this smells like another butthurt Christian outfit, wanting to claim persecution, and there is NOTHING new about THAT.
I'm not a lawyer but ... as you say initially, this is a trademark case, not a copyright case. You mention copyright several times, but is no copyright issue here. Titles aren't subject to copyright; only trademarks can protect a title, and then only if it causes commercial harm.
A sufficiently generic title can also render the trademark indefensible, which I suspect could be the outcome here (if the movie's prior claim on it isn't the winning argument instead, seeing as how the godbot band didn't register theirs until 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 the movie had been announced).
I think they also have to prove that the TM causes confusion. I'm sure, outside of an excited mom too drunk to tell the difference, not many people are going to confuse some guys in a metal band with animated teenagers singing KPOP. Unless Demon Hunter has been dressing up as KPOP Demon Hunters, then I can understand the confusion. On the flip side, that might gain them a foothold in a new demographic.
Because I do pay some attention to popular culture I know who/what KPop Demon Hunters is. The movie won an Academy Award FFS. I don’t know jack shit about any Christian bands unless they make press for being shitbags. Now I have to blame Hemant for making me knowledgeable about this band.
One of the best shows I've ever seen was at a rural South Carolina outdoor performance venue so poorly attended, I never found anyone that paid for a ticket...
The "Tribute To Abbey Road" tour, about 1998, with Todd Rundgren, Ann Wilson, Alan Parsons, John Entwistle (I think I've left someone out.) At the very start they let everyone walk up to the front, and just because it was a free show (and the last show of the tour) no one held back. They even had their kids running around on stage!
Thank you for the very special reminder RJ. A world gone, at least for now, that perhaps none of us here will ever see again.
I did spend a bit more than that on a bottle of bourbon a few years ago. I’m hoping to sell it for triple in another 7 years. It’s a Van Winkle. It’s in the back of the liquor cabinet with a
If this “band” thinks they’re going to win against Netflix, good luck to them. I have little sympathy for a big corporation—they are not your friends— and probably less for any Christian branded commercial enterprise. Personally, I suspect the band is making a mistake. But who am I to judge?
as Sancho Panza says “whether the stone hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the stone, it’s going to be bad for the pitcher.”
Didn’t Jesus have something to say about turning the other cheek?
Doesn’t Monica Cole have something to say about heavy metal influencing children?
Doesn’t melanoma have something to say about “I don’t care. Do U?”
And yet they didn't sue over the 2005 movie of the same name even though it was closer to the band's founding. This reeks of desperation on their part.
Truth be told, hypocrisy in Christianity ISN'T a bug, and if they didn't make the money-grab (as good "capitalist-Christians") they'd have seemed to be fools to their own base.
One can't but wonder who will fill this hole in "American Christianity" when Trump is gone? (I mean in a speaking role, not as martyr.)
Christians can never seem to pass up an opportunity to play the poor persecuted victim. This is in keeping with my long-held theory that, at least up to a point, religion thrives on persecution. If you want to keep people in the pews and the money flowing, make them think they're being threatened.
𝑁𝑒𝑡𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑥 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠𝑢𝑖𝑡’𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 “𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑡” 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 “𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑣𝑖𝑔𝑜𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟.”
Netflix lawyers should be able to handle this for a quick $1000 worth of billable hours. The real intent of the Christian band is to milk this for all the "persecution" donation money they can grab. Or am I being too cynical?
That, and the recognition boost from the news articles like this. Still, it’s a fun story.
Not at all. Even bad publicity is better than no publicity. See also Donald Trump.
...Charles Manson....
I imagine they are seeking a windfall from Netflix settling out of court to buy them off. Will be interesting to see what happens.
Probably not going to happen, their case is way too shaky for any sort of a worthwhile payout (i.e. covers the cost of their legal fees).
Best they can hope for is that the increased exposure doesn't become "oh,... them idiots"
When it comes to performative christianity, there is no such thing as "too cynical".
Christians make everything worse. Even heavy metal, which they're NOT supposed to be playing. It's considered evil by their faith. Is there nothing they won't lift their legs on to attempt to claim ownership?
They've always say that Rock n' Roll is the Devil's music and listening to Heavy Metal is a form of Satan worship... until they started using it to spread Christianity themselves.
Hypocrisy at its finest!
Their lead singer sports tattoos. I guess that's NOT a violation of Leviticus 19:28 now? I wonder if any of his bandmates also got ink done despite their own god telling them not to.
They're exempt from their own laws because reasons¹.
(¹ Those reasons often being Jesus ended those laws. They don't bother to read Matthew 5:17, that would be inconvenient.)
I have noticed that. It makes me believe the xians can't read and/or don't understand other peoples rights. Proably both.
They've been referring to secular music as the devil's music since the earliest non-religious western music started to spread.
Coming from Red, black, and brown people who used such music as a way to cope with persecution coming from the White man, I bet.
Everyone knows the Devil has all the best tunes.
Are you calling Pink Floyd evil because of Dark Side of the Moon?
"There is no dark side of the moon, matter of fact, it's all dark."
But fire is his only friend...
*struts like a rooster*
The good ole boys were drinkin' whisky and rye, singin' this'll be the day that I die.
The church was having a cow about troubadours in the Middle Ages!
"Is they're nothing they won't lift their legs on to attempt to claim ownership?"
Christians really piss people off with all the aforementioned leg-lifting.
Territorial pissings, are their favorite kind!
From and episode of "King of the Hill' :
'You're not making christianity better. You're making rock'n'roll worse !'
"KotH" is one of the things from today actually worth preserving.
Actually, I suppose most of my list is animated (or graphic novels.)
Gotta admit, there's something strangely endearing about people who establish their "cool cred" by listening to Christian Rock...
I feel like that is an oxymoron.
I'd be heavily inclined to agree, ET...
When I used to teach computer seminars in hotel conference rooms (1988-92), there was a Christian Rock station around Melbourne Beach, FL that was actually good, and certainly stuff that was all new to me. I'd generally listen while in range.
But that's the ONLY example I can contribute.
There are two online American Christian organizations I believe in enough to contribute to, and their politics very closely mirrors my own "Christian minimalism", plus "justice and equality" as every Dem should hopefully desire for America.....
Sojourners
https://sojo.net/
Faithful America
https://www.faithfulamerica.org/our-mission
I don't support either heavily, but I respect what they do, and wish to learn more about how they reach MAGA. Both organizations are on the same side we are.
People who try to emulate the prince of peace are a joy. Sadly here is no way to separate the sheep from the goats, so to speak. I read several substackers who are trying to reach the white christian national evangelicals.
Ethereal,
Two very nice Black, Jehovah's Witness ladies most unexpectedly rang the doorbell this morning, at a reasonable morning time. (Essentially a "4-time/year at best" sort of event.) Of course I talked, if only because they were kind and upbeat, and only minimally annoying in such a small dose. And Chiquita had a blast! (Meeting strangers for the very first time is her FAVorite thang!)
But the event allowed me to utter, in a louder than my normal volume, something that already feels cathartic for me....
"White people have gone CRAZY!"
Give it a shot! Can't hurt, and I think that I just may sleep better tonight, buoyed by a raft of purest truth.
My (very non-religious) mom loved them too, even the frozen food sales-guy came to her funeral, and said he always planned extra time to talk with her.
You may enjoy Martin Vazquez’s substack he speaks of issues seen through a non-default color lens.
https://substack.com/inbox/post/212499878
No as Hank Hill so wisely intoned. "You aren't making christianity better, you are only making rock music worse."
I'm a metalhead and have been for a lot longer than this band has been around. I've never heard of them. This action by theirs will not motivate me into listening to them, either. If they were hoping to gain more listeners/more publicity, they've utterly failed in my case.
You've never been inconvenienced by the traffic jams their sold out shows in Seattle have caused?
*cue Wallace Shawn Impression*
"Inconceivable!"
They'd be lucky to fill The Rabbit Box in Pike Place Market, a bar/live music venue with a max capacity of 99 (80 seated/19 standing).
Sounds like a hoppin' joint!
Ah, the late John Updike's favorite joint to visit, for obvious literary reasons, whenever he visited the greater Pacific Northwest area. Dude loved to start bar fights, from what I've heard./s
I wish the south (other than Atlanta, which does fine) had such an embarrassment of riches.
Today I learned that The Rabbit Box is a real place! God a friend who lived in Seattle who confirms that a band like that would *not* be popular in the area.
You have friends who are gods?
That's certainly the box I would have checked-off!!!
Possibly yes or possibly that was a typo. You decide!
You have to admit, jesus has the hair for headbanging to heavy metal.
Which is more likely: Netflix capitalizing on a major pop culture phenomenon and coincidentally uses a name similar to a Christian rock band that few have heard of, or Netflix deliberately targeted the Christians to steal their concert tickets?
This smells like attempted cash grab by the fundies to me.
That's exactly what's going on here!
They should have filed in Texas. They'd be more likely to win with a jury too stupid to tell the difference. If you haven't seen John Oliver on Buc-ees, they think a beaver is the same as an alligator, you know, everything that swims in the water is identical.
Question: Wat sounds worse than a metal band?
Answer: A Christian metal band!
Honestly, I have a tough time getting worked up about this one. Granted that the Christian band Demon Hunters has been around for a while. Fact is, I had heard of KPop Demon Hunters LONG before I was aware of the other (this morning, when Hemant published, actually!). As to who trademarked what when, I leave that to the courts to untangle.
Basically, though, this smells like another butthurt Christian outfit, wanting to claim persecution, and there is NOTHING new about THAT.
I'm not a lawyer but ... as you say initially, this is a trademark case, not a copyright case. You mention copyright several times, but is no copyright issue here. Titles aren't subject to copyright; only trademarks can protect a title, and then only if it causes commercial harm.
You’re right! My mistake. Fixed!
A sufficiently generic title can also render the trademark indefensible, which I suspect could be the outcome here (if the movie's prior claim on it isn't the winning argument instead, seeing as how the godbot band didn't register theirs until 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 the movie had been announced).
I think they also have to prove that the TM causes confusion. I'm sure, outside of an excited mom too drunk to tell the difference, not many people are going to confuse some guys in a metal band with animated teenagers singing KPOP. Unless Demon Hunter has been dressing up as KPOP Demon Hunters, then I can understand the confusion. On the flip side, that might gain them a foothold in a new demographic.
I bet under this administration they think the DOJ will take this up 🤣🤣🤣
Agreed, With President Trump, a devout Christian leading the way. 🤪
He'll be accompanied by 2 Corinthians in leather.
How can Trump be a DEFUNCT Christian, if he never was one at all!
Devout? You said "devout"?
"Never mind..."
Defunct and devout, both words start with the letter " d." 😆👍
I suppose I was hoping to draw out some Rosanne Rosannadanna fans...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k59d-xMvooA
Because I do pay some attention to popular culture I know who/what KPop Demon Hunters is. The movie won an Academy Award FFS. I don’t know jack shit about any Christian bands unless they make press for being shitbags. Now I have to blame Hemant for making me knowledgeable about this band.
Can't we all just hunt demons.
If Abaham Lincoln can hunt vampires...
And if Elizabeth Bennet can fight zombies...
Thar ya go!
Demons! It's always demons with these people. 😠
That's exactly how I want to be remembered by these idiots...
"I'd rather fight actual demons than a well-informed LIB!"
Is there a season like there is for deer hunting?
"I spent almost $500 on the tickets"
I wouldn't spend that much on a band or a kpop.
How about a demon?
The ones in my head live rent free.
https://youtu.be/ovY_hGsQ7Gs?is=bqyT4O0IUEUCoLUW
One of the best shows I've ever seen was at a rural South Carolina outdoor performance venue so poorly attended, I never found anyone that paid for a ticket...
The "Tribute To Abbey Road" tour, about 1998, with Todd Rundgren, Ann Wilson, Alan Parsons, John Entwistle (I think I've left someone out.) At the very start they let everyone walk up to the front, and just because it was a free show (and the last show of the tour) no one held back. They even had their kids running around on stage!
Thank you for the very special reminder RJ. A world gone, at least for now, that perhaps none of us here will ever see again.
I did spend a bit more than that on a bottle of bourbon a few years ago. I’m hoping to sell it for triple in another 7 years. It’s a Van Winkle. It’s in the back of the liquor cabinet with a
Post-It reading “NO!”
It’s possible the note is directed to me.
With respect to the mother who mistakenly bought tickets to the band and asked for a refund, did the band do the Christian thing?
Ha! I’m betting against that
It's probably what gave them the idea to sue, so no.
If this “band” thinks they’re going to win against Netflix, good luck to them. I have little sympathy for a big corporation—they are not your friends— and probably less for any Christian branded commercial enterprise. Personally, I suspect the band is making a mistake. But who am I to judge?
as Sancho Panza says “whether the stone hits the pitcher or the pitcher hits the stone, it’s going to be bad for the pitcher.”
Didn’t Jesus have something to say about turning the other cheek?
Doesn’t Monica Cole have something to say about heavy metal influencing children?
Doesn’t melanoma have something to say about “I don’t care. Do U?”
And yet they didn't sue over the 2005 movie of the same name even though it was closer to the band's founding. This reeks of desperation on their part.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_Hunter_(film)
The Netflix movie made more money, they think they can get a bigger pile of cash for Netflix to tell them to go away.
Exactly, Joe.
Truth be told, hypocrisy in Christianity ISN'T a bug, and if they didn't make the money-grab (as good "capitalist-Christians") they'd have seemed to be fools to their own base.
One can't but wonder who will fill this hole in "American Christianity" when Trump is gone? (I mean in a speaking role, not as martyr.)
What are the chances that Kpop Demon Hunters isn't already trademarked?
Considering that it's one of Netflix's biggest successes in the last few years, and they've sold merch based on it... zero.