Legal

Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Is Rip-Off of 2009 Film, Lawsuit Says

Filmmaker says series copies movie about fatal contest
Netflix sued in federal court in New York over popular series

Squid Game made history in 2022 as the first foreign-language drama to win top honors at the Emmy Awards. — *Squid Game* made history in 2022 as the first foreign-language drama to win top honors at the Emmy Awards.
Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg

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By Chris Dolmetsch

September 13, 2024 at 7:22 PM UTC

Updated on

September 13, 2024 at 9:05 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Netflix Inc. was accused by an Indian filmmaker of copying his 2009 movie for its popular Squid Game series as the company prepares to release the second season of the show later this year.

The filmmaker, Soham Shah, sued Netflix in federal court in New York on Friday, alleging that the show is a “blatant rip-off” of his Hindi-language film Luck, which tells the story of a “group of desperate, indebted people enticed to take part in a series of competitive games to win large sums of money” who later learn that losing the contests means death.