Netflix says Demon Hunter‘s trademark allegations over “KPop Demon Hunters” are without merit and it will defend the case.
Netflix has rejected the trademark claims brought against it by Demon Hunter, saying it intends to fight them in court. The streamer issued its response on Wednesday, a day after the Christian metal band’s corporation, Hyde Lane Inc., filed suit in the US District Court for the Central District of California against Netflix, Netflix Studios and concert promoter AEG Presents.
A Netflix spokesperson said: “These allegations are without merit. Netflix has created an Academy Award-winning global phenomenon with ‘KPop Demon Hunters‘ that has inspired fans around the world with its powerful music, storytelling, and characters. We look forward to vigorously defending this matter.”
The company has also put a figure on the film’s reach, saying it has passed 600 million views since arriving in June 2025 and stands as the most popular original title in its history.
AEG Presents has not commented publicly. Neither defendant has yet filed a formal answer, and none of the claims has been tested in court.
The complaint alleges trademark infringement, false designation of origin and unfair competition, and centres on the franchise’s expansion out of streaming and into recorded music, merchandise and live performance, the areas Demon Hunter have worked in since 2000. Netflix announced a “KPop Demon Hunters” world tour with AEG, mapped across 150 cities from 2027, which is what prompted the filing.
Hyde Lane describes itself as the senior user of the mark, having “established the mark first and invested in the goodwill associated with it for decades,” and says the brand it built “now faces an existential crisis, thereby necessitating the filing of this action and the granting of the requested relief from this Court.”
One of the sharper passages in the filing addresses the obvious defence — that “KPop” distinguishes one from the other. The band say the prefix is too generic to do that work.
“Simply put, Netflix is no more entitled to use the mark ‘KPop Demon Hunters‘ than it would be to launch a recording artist, live touring show and merchandise under the marks ‘KPop Metallica‘, ‘KPop U2‘, or ‘KPop Black Sabbath‘,” the complaint states.
On the disparity in scale, it adds: “Even more devastatingly, by leveraging their superior resources and reach, Defendants can, and do, eclipse Hyde Lane‘s Demon Hunter marks in the marketplace and effectively misappropriate the marks’ source-identifying significance. Thus, Defendants’ greater size and strength overwhelms Hyde Lane‘s established identity, causing consumers to perceive Hyde Lane as affiliated with, sponsored by, or derived from Defendants and denuding Hyde Lane of power over its commercial fate.”
The filing’s most concrete example of confusion dates to February, when someone who had spent $500 on tickets to a Demon Hunter show in Albany, New York asked for their money back, having believed the event was connected to the film.
The email is quoted in the complaint: “If I dont get it refunded I will not be able to purchase tickets to the actual ‘K pop demon hunters show,'” the e-mail read.
Hyde Lane first registered “Demon Hunter” in 2014, covering live performance. It added protections for recorded music and merchandise in 2022. Netflix began filing its own applications with the US Patent and Trademark Office in August 2025, lodging ten covering merchandise.
There is a gap in that record the band address themselves: the USPTO cancelled the mark in February 2025 after what the filing calls an inadvertent failure to file the required declaration on time, and Hyde Lane refiled that December, after the film had already been released.
Hyde Lane has requested a jury trial. It wants Netflix barred from using the name for recorded music, live shows and merchandise, its own interests in the mark restored, and unspecified damages including restitution and treble damages.
Demon Hunter formed in 2000 and have released twelve studio albums, with two number one Independent Albums and six top five Hard Rock Albums to their name. The most recent, There Was A Light Here, came out last September on their own Weapons MFG label, produced by frontman Ryan Clark with guitarist Jeremiah Scott and mixed by Chris “Zeuss” Harris, apart from the title track, which Eric Stenman handled. Their next tour opens on 7 October in Louisville, Kentucky.
KPop Demon Hunters, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, follows the fictional group Huntr/x, Rumi, Mira and Zoey, who hunt demons between pop engagements. Its soundtrack drew five Grammy nominations and “Golden” won Best Original Song at the 98th Academy Awards.
