AceShowbiz - A U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday in favor of Netflix in a copyright dispute involving funeral footage featured in the hit 2020 docuseries Tiger King.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld a lower court's decision that Netflix’s use of a 66-second clip filmed by Timothy Sepi during a funeral was considered fair use. Sepi originally filed the lawsuit against Netflix in 2020, claiming the streamer failed to compensate him for the footage used in the series.

This legal battle centered on a brief segment of the funeral of one of the characters from Tiger King. After the show’s unprecedented global popularity, Sepi argued that Netflix’s use of his video infringed on his copyright.

Interestingly, the court had previously ruled differently in 2024. At that time, a panel from the same court found that Netflix and the filmmakers did not sufficiently transform or comment on Sepi’s footage, stating that the defendants simply used the video without adding new meaning or context.

Chief Judge Jerome Holmes, who authored the earlier opinion, wrote that the defendants lacked a compelling justification for using Sepi’s funeral video, suggesting their purpose was merely to convey a new message by repurposing the original footage.

However, in the latest ruling, Holmes reversed course, explaining that the use of the funeral clips fits within a “classic documentary-style borrowing.” He emphasized a significant difference between the way the defendants and Sepi used the footage, noting that Netflix’s use served a distinct documentary purpose.

The court further observed that there was no evidence Netflix materially profited from the commercial exploitation of the copyrighted material itself. This factor supported the fair use finding.

Netflix representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment from TheWrap following the decision.

This ruling comes amid ongoing legal challenges involving streaming services and content rights, highlighting the complex balance between copyright protections and fair use in documentary filmmaking.