Netflix may have found itself in a legal battle with the United States government over the Space Force trademark. The streaming service debuted its workplace comedy, Space Force, last week but a trademark filing for the series conflicts with the US military's own plans for the phrase.
Netflix has filed for a Space Force trademark in several regions around the world, while the United States has a pending trademark application for Space Force, a branch of the US Air Force. It seems that Netflix could win the trademark war. The United States has a first to use policy which would mean that Netflix would win, as the Space Force isn't off the ground.
Other countries have a first to file policy, which Netflix would also win as it filed its Space Force trademark application in January 2019, nearly a year after President Trump announced the Air Force Space Force, but before the government filed for its own application. Netflix could also win a potential fight because of artistic reasons, the same thing that won Activision's Call of Duty Humvee lawsuit.
It's unclear if the United States government would fight Netflix on this and what this could mean for other military-themed shows. Shows like Amazon's new series which is about a Navy SEAL, are unlikely to be affected by trademark battles, as the show would likely be fair use, but other shows about newer branches of the military could potentially have the same conflict as Netflix.
Space Force is now streaming on Netflix.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter