From Murphy v. King Size Productions, decided Mar. 17 by Judge Michael Fitzgerald (C.D. Cal.), but just posted on Westlaw:
Defendants produce a fictional television show named "Evil" that airs on a streaming platform called Paramount+…. The [June 20, 2021] Episode revolves around a device called the "God Helmet." The characters who use the device see demons, relive traumatic experiences, and experience a loss of spirituality.
At the beginning of the Episode, a character referenced the device by saying, "oh right, the God Helmet," to which another character responded, "actually that's trademarked so we've been asked not to call it that." While the show itself is fictional, its reference to the God Helmet trademark was not.
Plaintiff Todd Murphy owns the God Helmet trademark under U.S. Registration Number 6368592. Plaintiff has published multiple research papers and a book on the God Helmet, and he sells his own version of the device through his website.
Plaintiff's God Helmet is a device that subtly stimulates the temporal lobes with magnetic signals to create altered states of mind, simulating a religious experience for its users. In the Episode, Plaintiff claims the God Helmet was portrayed as a torture device, misleading viewers as to the real purpose of the product….
The court rejected Murphy's trademark infringement claim:
