Better Call Saul producers will have to lawyer up because AMC Networks and Sony Pictures are being sued for trademark infringement and trade dress by Liberty Tax, a real-life tax company. According to The Wrap, Liberty Tax claims the series used its trademarked name and symbols to create the fake tax company introduced in Season 6, Episode 2.
Season 2 of Better Call Saul’s final season brings back Betsy (Julie Ann Emery) and Craig Kettleman (Jeremy Shamos), embezzlers who crossed paths with Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) in the series’ first season. The episode shows that the couple opened a crooked tax company named “Sweet Liberty Tax Services,” which they used to embezzle money from clients who were unaware of the intricacies of the bureaucratic tax system.
Due to the proximity of the name of the real and the fake tax company, Liberty Tax decided to sue the series producers for the allegedly “intentional misuse” of their trademark. Besides claiming the fake company name is too close to their own, Liberty Tax also points out how the series shows a huge inflatable Statue of Liberty in front of the embezzler’s office, a symbol frequently used to identify the real-world company. The court documents also point out how the series supposedly copied the logo and style of Liberty Tax. As we can read in the suit:
“Out of all the names Defendants could have used for the tax business portrayed in Episode 2, they decided not to be original at all, but instead rip off the famous Liberty Tax trademarks, which have been used for over 25 years, and mimic an actual Liberty Tax location just by adding the word ‘Sweet’ in front of Liberty Tax’s trademark.”
It’s curious to learn about a lawsuit against Better Call Saul, considering the series storyline. The Breaking Bad spinoff follows the chaotic life of Jimmy McGill, a former con artist who decides to become a lawyer, only to be taken on a path that will eventually turn him into the lawyer Saul Goodman. The series frequently explores how lawyers find breaches and loopholes to defend their clients, using any excuse they can to turn the tides in their favor. So, with a legal drama series becoming the center of some very real legal drama, we could say that life is indeed imitating art.
Better Call Saul is executive produced by series creators and writers Peter Gould and Vince Gilligan alongside Mark Johnson, Melissa Bernstein, Thomas Schnauz, Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock, Diane Mercer, and Michael Morris. Along with Odenkirk, the cast of the show includes Rhea Seehorn, Jonathan Banks, Patrick Fabian, Michael Mando, Tony Dalton, and Giancarlo Esposito.
New episodes of Better Call Saul premiere on AMC every Monday at 9 pm ET. Currently, we are only two episodes away from the series finale. Check out our interview with star Odenkirk about Season 6 and the fate of Saul Goodman below:
