Democracy Dies in Darkness

Netflix sues ‘Bridgerton’ musical creators for infringement

Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington in Season 1 of Netflix's "Bridgerton." (Liam Daniel/Netflix)
2 min

Netflix has filed a lawsuit against the creators of “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical,” which recently made its stage debut at the Kennedy Center, for copyright and trademark infringement of its Emmy-nominated series “Bridgerton.”

The production company claims that the musical’s composers, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, continued to perform and financially profit using “verbatim dialogue, character traits and expression, and other elements” from the period romance drama without licensing from Netflix, production company Shondaland or “Bridgerton” book author Julia Quinn, according to a complaint filed through the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Friday.