Fox has filed a trademark lawsuit seeking a legal declaration stipulating that the network has "every right" to continue using the name "Empire" for its hit series.

The Hollywood Reporter reports the move is in response to a demand that the network pay $5 million and cast several artists in the show recently made by the Empire Distribution, Inc. The website adds Fox executives are seeking to avoid the kind of trouble creators of "Glee" ran into in the U.K. when a judge recently allowed the owner of a comedy club of the same name to assert dominion over it.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Empire Distribution is billed as a California corporation that has also asserted rights to the names "Empire Distribution" and "Empire Recordings." In their demand letter, attorneys for Empire Distribution also alleged their clients' interests have suffered dilution "via a series that features a label run by a homophobic drug dealer prone to murdering his friends."

In their suit, Fox officials describe Empire Distribution as "commercially weak" with a Google search for "empire record label" not resulting in the company's website emerging until the seventh page of the search.

"There is even a film called 'Empire Records,'" notes Marvin Putnam, the attorney who filed the suit on behalf of the network.

Created by filmmaker Lee Daniels, the "Empire" series drew an audience of nearly 17 million same-day viewers for its recent season finale. The show has also spawned a soundtrack album that debuted on top of the Billboard 200 chart.

Fox officials also note the Empire Distribution officials never applied for a federal trademark registration on the name over which they now seek to hold dominion.

The "Empire" series stars Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon and Terrence Howard as Lucious Lyon.