Amazon is finally putting a nine-year legal battle with a porn company behind it, ensuring that the Fire TV name is safe to use.
The online retailer and adult entertainment company Wreal LLC have settled a legal dispute about the use of Fire TV, Bloomberg Law first reported. The battle goes back to April 2014, when Wreal LLC sued Amazon, alleging that its then-new Fire TV video streaming service infringed upon its own adult streaming service, FyreTV.
The legal battle had quietly gone back and forth for nearly a decade, a thorn in Amazon’s side even as the Fire TV brand exploded with a line of TV boxes and streaming sticks amid a big investment. The settlement finally ends the dispute and questions about the use of the Fire TV name, which grown to be a key part of Amazon’s consumer product lineup.
FyreTV, which Wreal calls the “Netflix of porn,” launched in 2007 and trademarked its name a year later. It also later released its own TV box called the FyreBoXXX, although it’s been discontinued.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard ruled in Amazon’s favor in 2019, saying that consumers likely wouldn’t be confused by the similar names. But in July 2022, a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the decision and said the case, considered an incident of “reverse confusion,” should be reviewed by a jury, according to Reuters.
Spokesmen for Amazon and Wreal weren’t immediately available to comment on the settlement.