Disney closing Etsy shops?

[DisneyPrncss27]

I was just on Etsy, there are plenty of Disney sites still up and running...

 

[2012DisneyWorldBride]

I have heard of 2 separate companies on Etsy that sold Disney related items getting a C&D within the last 3 months... Looks like they are cracking down.

 

[bsusanmb]

Disney needs to make custom Fish Extenders, but until then I will continue to buy them on Etsy.

 

[Micca]

The law is the law....and it sucks.

Here is my issue- I have an etsy maker who does iron ons for t-shirts on the sly. she hasn't been caught yet. She does one that says "I'm going to disney world" and specializes in shirts that say things like Mom/Dad inside mickey ears and corresponding colors...we have shirts for both halloween and christmas colors.

About 2 years ago she took off ALL of her disney shirts- but I have her contact info so she still does them for me.

As far as I know Disney doesn't make these items so HOW are they losing out on profit???? They don't sell the product I want so I have no choice but to buy it elsewhere.

It's a big whack-a-mole game with Disney and copyright infringement. I've often wondered about people who create items with Disney characters that don't advertise them. They must exist, and sell to people as described in the post above. I'll bet there are some really cool things, perhaps expensive items that are unlicensed floating around out there. Unless Disney catches them in the manufacturing or act of selling them there's not much they can do.

 

[hazelsmrf]

Disney does not enforce their trademarks ENOUGH I think. I sell clip art and digital designs on Etsy and have for years, and the amount of "artists" that sell Disney clip art is disgusting. They go for the easy sales because people want birthday invitations with Anna & Elsa etc, and they sell incredibly well. I would not be surprised if they were making over 6 figures per year selling other peoples artwork. And yes even if you redraw the princesses it is still Disney's copyright. You can draw Alice in Wonderland, you just can't do *Disney*'s version of Alice. You can do Snow White, just not *Disney's* Snow White. The princesses some people sell are not generic princesses, they are Disney Princesses. If the average person can look at it and say yes, that's a Disney Princess, then it's probably copyright/trademark infringement.

Anyways, I hope Disney cracks down on all the clip art/invitation etc sales going on because there are tons of sellers and I hate that people are being rewarded for stealing.

 

[baylie666]

It might also be the case where Disney have seen how popular these items are and have decided to make money from the ideas for themselves. They don't want etsy shops as their competition so they claim copyright infringement (which it obviously still is) steal the idea and mass produce them. They can sell copyright to other companies (hot topic etc) and make money from it.

I have seen this with other companies (forever 21 etc) stealing ideas from etsy and making a mass produced but cheaper product, therefore meaning the etsy seller can't compete with the prices.

Disney are totally within their rights to stop sales of items marked as Disney but think this can be gotten round by making more generic stuff that is influenced by Disney....

Just MHO and my thoughts

 

[Reddog1134]

It might also be the case where Disney have seen how popular these items are and have decided to make money from the ideas for themselves. They don't want etsy shops as their competition so they claim copyright infringement (which it obviously still is) steal the idea and mass produce them. They can sell copyright to other companies (hot topic etc) and make money from it.

I have seen this with other companies (forever 21 etc) stealing ideas from etsy and making a mass produced but cheaper product, therefore meaning the etsy seller can't compete with the prices.

Just MHO and my thoughts

It wouldn't surprise me if ANY large corporation let Etsy style business do their "market research" for them.

They see someone using their IP on an item, they wait to see how well they do with it, then they shut them down and start producing their own item.

Somewhat similarly, there's a gaming company (won't mention the name, Games Workshop) that distributes their own product to small game stores. If they see that the store is ordering large amounts of their product, they open their own retail location in that area.

 

[aristocatz]

I wish there was a price reasonable way for Disney to allow Etsy shops to sell handmade Disney stuff.....maybe for a reasonable fee to Disney & agreeing to certain rules or whatnot. After all, it's free advertising for Disney!

 

[Carie Young]

There are others that have paid a royalty to sell/make Disney merchandise - legally. How is it fair to them to pay the fees and have to compete with other vendors that haven't and can undercut their prices because of this?

As for Disney, for smaller vendors, it's not necessarily about making money on them, it's about protecting the quality of the Disney name. By having a license, it allows the company to better track what is being put out under the Disney name.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

Well with the new offerings at the Dress Shop, Disney is doing quite well with its DisneyBounding foray. They haven't really sold anything for Adults DisneyBounding purposes... clearly there is a market for it!

 

[closetmickey]

Just ran across some adorable items. Sure hope they are still available in a year or so.

 

[bumbershoot]

This is a nice old thread to be bumped up.

Disney needs to make custom Fish Extenders, but until then I will continue to buy them on Etsy.

You called it, except for the custom part, 2.5 years ago!

 

[Madonna3]

It's really kind of sad Disney does it this way. These are likely not very business savvy people and instead of shutting them down, why not ask them to pay a fixed fee per item sold. I guess that gets complicated because you'd have to have a contract, but I am sure there is just a way for everyone to be happy instead of just closing down people trying to make a living off their talent and selling to a market that is clearly underserved.

 

[aleksandr]

I know this is an old thread that was recently necro'ed, but...

My (this is going to be unpopular) opinion on this is "good for Disney".

They need to protect their intellectual property rights.

It doesn't matter that someone is trying to make a living off of making crafts using someone else's IP and those sales are insignificant dollar-wise. They are breaking the law, plain and simple. And I'd bet that nearly all of them knew that going into it. You take a risk, and sometimes you have to pay the consequences.

IP theft and piracy is a big deal. If Disney turns the other way at individuals making homemade crafts, they can potentially lose the rights to those characters, opening the door for large companies to start profiting off of their materials.

 

[mustinjourney]

Just wanted to clear up a couple of things:

the Quality King v. L'Anza case cited earlier, while being a "first use" type case -- is for an entirely unrelated issue. In that case, the IP owner sold US made goods at a reduced cost in a foreign market, and then the foreign purchasers started importing them back into the US at a price cheaper than what the "officially licensed" goods were. Court said first sale doctrine applies. But see Costco v. Omega -- Costco did something similar with watches, bought them in foreign markets and imported them to the US; however, b/c the goods they purchased were originally made outside the US, the first sale doctrine didn't apply. Supreme court split 4-4 on this issue -- so it might get changed if the issue is brought up again.

Clearly -- both of those cases are easily distinguishable to someone purchasing fabric with a limited "for personal use" license and then setting up a commercial enterprise in which they transform the fabric into finished goods and sell to the general public.

Regarding the Precious Moments v. LaInfantil -- that is a mixed bag. The alleged infringer won the copyright case but lost the trademark infringement case. The defendant was required to modify their tags to include a disclaimer. Essentially -- if the buying public is confused about the source of the goods, then you will likely lose. If your shop has big bold disclosures that make it clear there is no affiliation with Disney, then it is on more solid ground.

 

[marcyleecorgan]

It's really kind of sad Disney does it this way. These are likely not very business savvy people and instead of shutting them down, why not ask them to pay a fixed fee per item sold. I guess that gets complicated because you'd have to have a contract, but I am sure there is just a way for everyone to be happy instead of just closing down people trying to make a living off their talent and selling to a market that is clearly underserved.

This option already exists! It isn't difficult at all to contact Disney for a contract to produce licensed items if your business involves this kind of thing. What is difficult, for small-scale sellers, is the licensing fee and the quantities you must guarantee to make, as well as the clause that, "once this run is done, you can't make just a few more". Reality is, for small businesses, the fixed fee per item is more money oftentimes than the business can afford. But it's just not cool to decide you don't want to pay, or can't pay, and then start selling illegally.

The C & D letter is a reactionary move, NOT an initial one. If you, as a business, reach out to Disney and file your license, it's not going to result in a C & D. If you DON'T do this, Disney lawyers know full well this option was available to you, that you didn't take it, and now you are intentionally violating the law, hence the C & D letter.

 

[RustManFan]

I wish there was a complete shutdown of Disney sites on both Ebay and Etsy. I am the Moderator on the Creative Boards forum and we create DISigns which we provide to DISers free of charge. We are careful not to violate Disney coprights. It is my understanding that someone early on in the forum's history checked to see if this process was ok with Disney and it was.

Problem is that many of our DISigns have been stolen by immoral people and posted for sale on both Ebay and Etsy and neither of these sites seems to care.

This was deeply hurtful to our DISigners that spent many hours (of our own time) creating stuff for DISers and then these jerks messed it up.....

 

[Westcoastwild]

It's really kind of sad Disney does it this way. These are likely not very business savvy people and instead of shutting them down, why not ask them to pay a fixed fee per item sold. I guess that gets complicated because you'd have to have a contract, but I am sure there is just a way for everyone to be happy instead of just closing down people trying to make a living off their talent and selling to a market that is clearly underserved.

Uh, they may not be business savvy, but they KNOW they are violating copyright. And most of the ones I have met in real life would not agree to a contract anyway because it threatens their control of their "art" or because imthey feel like they shouldn't have to- they're doing Disney a "favor" by being a fan and selling to other fans.

I would have thought the same as you before I made friends with some cosplayers. There are some people who are playing by the rules and aren't getting shut down. But the vast majority of the people you are talking about know the rules. They just don't agree with them or it's a lot more profitable to sell Disney rip offs.

 

[Madonna3]

Uh, they may not be business savvy, but they KNOW they are violating copyright. And most of the ones I have met in real life would not agree to a contract anyway because it threatens their control of their "art" or because imthey feel like they shouldn't have to- they're doing Disney a "favor" by being a fan and selling to other fans.

I would have thought the same as you before I made friends with some cosplayers. There are some people who are playing by the rules and aren't getting shut down. But the vast majority of the people you are talking about know the rules. They just don't agree with them or it's a lot more profitable to sell Disney rip offs.

Yeah your post and a few others are changing my opinion

 

[wilkeliza]

Yeah your post and a few others are changing my opinion

I follow a few artists that do the con circuit and then those that just sell online. Many of them follow the rules very carefully and are licensed artist. It is a thing that Disney does. They can draw to their heart's content and make profit off of it they just paid a fee to Disney/Marvel/Star Wars who ever to get the rights or they are doing it through an online t-shirt company that is licensed and they approve the designs before allowing it to be sold. Basically a lot of hands taking the profit. At the bigger more "official" cons it is watched pretty clearly and if you get into Artist Alley they you are pretty much allowed to do it. Smaller cons don't care about copy right so it is just a free for all. I try to stick with artists I know who have gone through the proper channels and know the laws. Most of them have gotten so big that Disney/Marvel/Star Wars would have stopped them at this point if they were breaking any laws. I also respect and artist that stays 100% with in the law and don't mind spending more to support them. Just this weekend we got a lot of great posters/art at Star Wars Celebration and it is clear to know who is working with in the rules as you can't sell in the official store or have the con logo on your work if not.