A new Mindy Kaling The series is the subject of a trial against Netflix and Warner Bros.
The University of Pepperdine continues the streamer and the studio, saying that they have broken the school’s school brands in the next basketball show Racing point. The series follows a woman who becomes president of the professional basketball franchise from her family in Los Angeles – at the same time freely to the history of the owner and president of Los Angeles Lakers, Jeanie Buss, who produced the show.
Co-created by Kaling, Elaine Ko, Ike Barinholtzand David Stassen (none of whom is appointed defendant), Racing point Depicted a fictitious basketball team called The Waves-which is also the name of Pepperdine’s sports teams, including basketball.
In the complaint, which was examined by Weekly entertainmentPepperdine’s lawyers say that the similarities do not stop there: they also say that the “logo and mark and the colors of the fictitious team are surprisingly similar” to that of the university, because they both present schemes Of blue, orange and white colors, and incorporate a waving in their logos. “The uses are too numerous and too close to be coincident,” says the document.
“Without our permission, Netflix continues to promote Racing pointA new series that has diverted our brand name, waves, colors, blue and orange, our hometown of Los Angeles, and even the year we were founded as an institution “, Sean Burnett , main vice-president of Pepperdine and marketing director of Pepperdine said in a press release. “Given this blatant contempt for our intellectual property and damage to our institutional identity, with Netflix and Warner Bros. ‘The continuous refusal to resolve the concerns of Pepperdine, we believe that it is necessary to request a judicial intervention.”
Representatives of Netflix, WB, Kaling, Ko, Barinholtz and Stassen did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comments.
Pepperdine lawyers also noted that Pepperdine and the fictitious team highlight number 37 of their marketing. The school mascot, Willy The Wave, carries the number 37 on a jersey in honor of the Institution of the institution in 1937, while the Netflix series presents “a jersey”, blue, orange and white “on The wall of a scene, depending on the complaint.
Kat Marcinowski / Netflix
The university, which is a private Christian institution, wants to distance between it and the fictitious team. “Pepperdine does not want any affiliation or association with the” waves “presented in Racing point – Especially given the series (and the apparent mismanagement of the fictitious team) does not align itself with the culture or the values of Pepperdine, “said the trial, affirming that in the trailer for the program “,” Many examples of risky, inappropriate and illegal behavior are represented and represented celebrated, “including” references to the consumption of substances, violence, imagery and sexually dialogue explicit and coarse language.
The complaint argues that the similarities perceived between the fictitious waves and the school “will provoke an unwanted association with the brand and the image of Pepperdine, as well as dilute, tarnish and denigrate the reputation and the marks of Pepperdine”, which supports “Drink Pepperdine’s ability to recruit students, athletes and teachers and continue his global mission.”
University lawyers claimed that Pepperdine had sent Netflix and WB a cease-free letter to vain.
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Pepperdine is looking for an “injunctive relief to prevent the additional use of pepperdine marks”, as well as undisclosed damage, the rights to all the benefits that Netflix and WB make Wave Merchanders, a removal of all images related to the waves of program marketing and for marketing of the show and for the studios to provide “corrective advertising to decline any association between Pepperdine and racing point, to remedy the real and potential confusion of the customer in the marketplace.
Racing point stars Kate HudsonDrew Tarver, Scott MacArthur, Brenda SongFabrizio Guido, Toby Sandeman, Chet Hanks, Max GreenfieldKeyla Monterroso Mejia and Jay Ellis. The show strikes Netflix on February 27.