"Squid Game blatantly copied my movie"… Indian director sues Netflix

Lawsuit Filed in US New York Federal Court
"My Movie 'Luck' Was Blatantly Copied"

Netflix drama 'Squid Game,' which led the global success of K-dramas, has been embroiled in a plagiarism controversy ahead of the release of its season 2, Bloomberg reported on the 13th (local time).

Photo by Netflix Twitter [Image source=Yonhap News]

Indian film director Soham Shah has filed a lawsuit against Netflix in the U.S. District Court in New York, claiming that 'Squid Game' blatantly copied his 2009 film 'Luck.'

He described 'Luck' as "a story about desperate, heavily indebted people who are induced to participate in a series of competitive games to win a large sum of money," and argued that "the main plot, characters, themes, atmosphere, settings, and sequence of events in 'Squid Game' are strikingly similar to 'Luck'." He also stated in the complaint that his copyright has been continuously infringed through derivative content such as reality TV game shows and immersive experiences based on 'Squid Game.'

Claiming that 'Squid Game' increased Netflix's market value by more than $900 million (approximately 1.2 trillion KRW), he demanded unspecified damages for the harm he suffered. Furthermore, he requested a copyright infringement injunction (preliminary injunction) to prevent Netflix from profiting from marketing, streaming, related merchandise sales, and content development related to 'Squid Game' in the future.

Netflix responded by calling the claims "baseless." They added, "'Squid Game' is a work written and created by director Hwang Dong-hyuk, and we will vigorously defend this matter."

Director Hwang Dong-hyuk holding the Emmy Award trophy
[Photo by Yonhap News]

'Squid Game' was produced by Netflix with a budget of approximately $21 million (about 28 billion KRW). Since its release in September 2021, it recorded over 1.65 billion views in just four weeks and became the first non-English drama to be nominated in 14 categories at the U.S. Emmy Awards, winning Best Director (Hwang Dong-hyuk) and Best Actor (Lee Jung-jae).

The news of 'Squid Game' season 2 boosted Netflix's stock price to an all-time intraday high. On the 20th of last month, Netflix's stock price soared to $711.33 (a 3.3% increase). Season 2 is scheduled to be released on December 26, and season 3 is also being prepared with a target release next year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.