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'Stranger Things' Copyright Claim Survives Motion to Dismiss
In response to a copyright claim in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California that the Netflix series Stranger Things infringed on Irish Rover Entertainment's unpublished screenplays, Netflix and the other defendants filed a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, arguing that the works were not substantially similar as a matter of law. In connection with the motion, Netflix submitted — and the district court accepted — copies of the allegedly infringed screenplays and the allegedly infringing three seasons of Stranger Things.
Netflix provided a detailed analysis to demonstrate that the competing works were not "substantially similar" under the "extrinsic similarity" test, which applies at the Rule 12(b)(6) pleading stage. Under this test, a court conducts an objective analysis of similarities between the competing works' plot, themes, dialogue, settings, pacing, characters and sequence of events after filtering out non-protectable similarities (e.g., scenes à faire elements, historical facts and general ideas).
In contrast to Irish Rover Entertainment's screenplays — which Netflix described as telling the story of an epileptic army veteran's quest to free his dead wife's spirit from a giant English-speaking angel/demon — Netflix explained that Stranger Things focuses on a group of teenagers dealing with common teenage issues (e.g., conflicts with adults, romantic crushes), while engaging with and fighting off science fiction monsters, evil scientists and Russian military personnel.
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