question... Princess Fraud

[Granny square]

I don't have Bluetooth and in my state I can't dial a cell phone unless I'm stopped on side of road.....otherwise .... Most I'm sure are not worth reporting and my guess is there are a 1000 folks out there trying to profit off of Disneys Frozen characters/movie/songs. If someone were trying to profit and making a mockery of these characters for children to see then yes , give me the phone . By the way I do speed ........occasionally

So breaking a law that can actually statistically cause injury or death is less worth notice than intellectual property theft? Huh. Interesting set of priorities. Best explained by the fact that you choose to speed and thus justify it. But it is wrong for others to justify their crimes.

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

So breaking a law that can actually statistically cause injury or death is less worth notice than intellectual property theft? Huh. Interesting set of priorities. Best explained by the fact that you choose to speed and thus justify it. But it is wrong for others to justify their crimes.

I don't justify it , I just admit to doing it. As explained the only way to report a speeding crime in my state I would have to commit another crime by picking up the cell phone. I'm hoping you understand that.
OP wanted to know about fraud committed against DISNEY by MAKING MONEY off of THEIR PROPERTY without THEIR PERMISSION.
That is a crime and if you don't see that I feel sorry for you.

 

[Disneychick75]

I don't justify it , I just admit to doing it. As explained the only way to report a speeding crime in my state I would have to commit another crime by picking up the cell phone. I'm hoping you understand that.
OP wanted to know about fraud committed against DISNEY by MAKING MONEY off of THEIR PROPERTY without THEIR PERMISSION.
That is a crime and if you don't see that I feel sorry for you.

If I were Disney and the princess lookalikes we're doing nothing but making kids happy, I'd look upon it as free advertising. They might start coming down on them but I doubt it. If it doesn't bother them, and they have to know about it from all the well intentioned dogooders, plus I imagine they can read ads, why should it bother anyone here or elsewhere? Disney has a HUGE legal department. They can take care of themselves and their products.

 

[bcla]

Well said !




Once again IF they are portrayed as exact replicas of DISNEYS Princesses then it IS against the law if they are trying to profit from it. As expressed above if/when someone does something stupid dressed as a DISNEY character that would hurt Disney . It does NOT matter that the characters in question are pretend. They are copyrighted.

You should see what's on the Las Vegas Strip. It's a veritable hotbed of unlicensed and obvious ripoffs of copyrighted characters looking to make a buck off of posing for photos.

Also - licensing often allows for private parties to use things like costumes for private purposes. Even noncommercial use isn't allowed. For instance, Disney movies aren't supposed to be shown in a school setting without a use license. The terms on the package and the typical video disclaimer note that it's only meant for home use and not any kind of exhibition. Even if it's noncommercial, permission needs to be gained.

There's other odd stuff too. My kid loves the Cars franchise, so I walked into a fabric store and was looking for stuff. My wife doesn't sew either, but I figured it was a good place to start. Several of the bolts of licensed pattern fabric were clearly marked that they were not to be made into items for sale, and that they were only meant for use by private individuals for personal use.

 

[cobright]

First of all the current notion of intellectual property rights and IP theft is a very recent invention. A change in the law pushed by bug studios like Disney to protect them from other less politically connected artists and performers who would use their material in the same way they had used what was there before them.

Disney got his start taking vaudeville acts and turning them into cartoon skits. Steamboat Willie is almost 100% plagurized by today's standards. So drop the moral pretense of lawfulness on this, the law is a construct bought and paid for by the wealthy for the purpose of limiting competition.

So do I pick and choose the laws I follow? To an extent we all do. If a candy machine steals my $$ I'm gonna shake the cheatos out of it. Sometimes I bring my own candy into the movies. I take a water bottle full of white rum with me into the magic kingdom every time I go. Those are laws and rules I sometimes choose to ignore because I find them unfair. If I'm caught and punished, that's a consequence I accept as part of the game.

Princess parties are skating a fine line. You cannot copyright a costume pattern, and trademark protection is only to ensure that the ownership of the characters is not in doubt. Children can play Disney music at their own parties no matter who brings it. Point is, this is not nearly as blatant an infraction as panic-pants up the line would make it. But he/she's right, it is probably a violation. Tell Disney and let them decide what to do if that's what you need to sleep better at night.

Then brag about what a good deed you did and watch as you are taken off all your cool friends invite lists.

 

[Skywalker]

As expressed above if/when someone does something stupid dressed as a DISNEY character that would hurt Disney . It does NOT matter that the characters in question are pretend. They are copyrighted.

Well you have Disney character as your avatar. What happens if you say something stupid that hurts the Disney brand? Perhaps you should switch to a generic duck.

 

[Granny square]

First of all the current notion of intellectual property rights and IP theft is a very recent invention. A change in the law pushed by bug studios like Disney to protect them from other less politically connected artists and performers who would use their material in the same way they had used what was there before them. Disney got his start taking vaudeville acts and turning them into cartoon skits. Steamboat Willie is almost 100% plagurized by today's standards. So drop the moral pretense of lawfulness on this, the law is a construct bought and paid for by the wealthy for the purpose of limiting competition. So do I pick and choose the laws I follow? To an extent we all do. If a candy machine steals my $$ I'm gonna shake the cheatos out of it. Sometimes I bring my own candy into the movies. I take a water bottle full of white rum with me into the magic kingdom every time I go. Those are laws and rules I sometimes choose to ignore because I find them unfair. If I'm caught and punished, that's a consequence I accept as part of the game. Princess parties are skating a fine line. You cannot copyright a costume pattern, and trademark protection is only to ensure that the ownership of the characters is not in doubt. Children can play Disney music at their own parties no matter who brings it. Point is, this is not nearly as blatant an infraction as panic-pants up the line would make it. But he/she's right, it is probably a violation. Tell Disney and let them decide what to do if that's what you need to sleep better at night. Then brag about what a good deed you did and watch as you are taken off all your cool friends invite lists.

Interesting. you follow the thought pattern I was short cutting around

Water bottle with rum, too funny! May have to spike something next time!

 

[WILDERNESS FAN 55]

Well you have Disney character as your avatar. What happens if you say something stupid that hurts the Disney brand? Perhaps you should switch to a generic duck.

Touche !

 

[TeresaNJ]

hey guys don't know where the best place to post thi is I have a quick question there is a company that just got started n my town .. they are Disney princess preforming at parties... they do not have permission from Disney to do this...how do I report them to Disney???, I just think its fraud and wrong... I approached the owner and they said that thy are just a small company and they will deal with Disney when they have to......who can I call about this

Would you also report any Elvis impersonators you may come across? Sheesh. Wish people would get as worked up over things that really matter, instead of stuff like this.

 

[Geoff_M]

Would you also report any Elvis impersonators you may come across? Sheesh. Wish people would get as worked up over things that really matter, instead of stuff like this.

You can be assured that commercial musicians that perform the works of Elvis Presley, or any other copyrighted works, are almost certainly doing so under a royalty license. So unless you think it likely that the person the OP is referring to has a comparible license, I don't think the comparison applies.

 

[FergieTCat]

In NYC, in Times Square, across the street from the Disney Store, there are people dressed up like Mickey, Minnie, Buzz and Woody taking pictures with tourists for tips.

So, if Disney hasn't stepped forward to stop them, I'd say ... Let it go, let it go!!

 

[Saimaeve]

... Let it go, let it go!!

Turn away and slam the door.

 

[TLSnell1981]

I don't care...

 

[ICF]

I don't care...

What they're going to say....

 

[cobright]

Here is a link to the first chapter of Lawrence Lessig's brilliant book, Free Culture
http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/free_culture.lawrence_lessig/_1.html

I would paste it, but even a short excerpt is still a bit of a word-wall to digest.

This first chapter deals immediately with the copyright environment that Disney came to power within and how it has been changed (by Disney and other powerful studios) in ways to make sure that their success can never be duplicated.

It's kind of a nerdcore subject really. IP is one of my favorite subjects, since my graduate study days even.

 

[cobright]

Once again IF they are portrayed as exact replicas of DISNEYS Princesses then it IS against the law if they are trying to profit from it. As expressed above if/when someone does something stupid dressed as a DISNEY character that would hurt Disney . It does NOT matter that the characters in question are pretend. They are copyrighted.

The IP protection that would apply here is Trademark, not copyright. Specifically the legal argument of brand dilution as it applies to trademark.

Problem is, Disney would have to show that people hiring a princess party were likely to believe that the party was produced by Disney. They would have to show that some confusion exists on the customer's end that the people providing the service work for Disney.

Normally this would be a tricky thing to show. Luckily, for Disney, they have lawyers on pay to make defending your right to produce a performance like this so expensive that the average person simply cannot withstand it. Even if they are in full comportment with existing laws.

Then the lawyers for Disney move forward to make sure that all existing laws allow no room for anyone to enjoy what is truly a part of the American culture in any way that is not exploited by Disney.

This is a recent change in how copyright and trademark has always worked. Consider how many old school teams have/had loonytune and disney images for mascots?

 

[bcla]

This is a recent change in how copyright and trademark has always worked. Consider how many old school teams have/had loonytune and disney images for mascots?

The University of Oregon has a specific license to use the likeness of Donald Duck as their mascot. Their costumed mascot actually doesn't look that much like Donald and they revamped the agreement in 2010 so that it only covers the image and not the costumed mascot. The previous agreement didn't allow the mascot to be used outside of official University of Oregon functions. They couldn't hire it out for other events (maybe even Capital One Mascot Challenge commercials). The agreement had terms that the person in the costume had to "properly represent" the image of Donald Duck. I guess that meant nothing untoward like downing a beer. I specifically remember seeing a beer bong in a college mascot where the tube was fed through an eye hole.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/03/disney_uo_mascot_part_ways.html

The print version does contain a Disney copyright (not trademark) disclaimer.

 

[wendylovedarling]

One of these recently opened in my community. Normally I would have no problem with this, I had a princess ay all my parties growing up, but I've seen them at a few events in our community and there always doing adult things in costume. I've seen Anna cursing at other adults in front of kids and even flipping the bird in pictures. It really bothers me because I love these characters so much and I know these kids idolize them and they're setting such a poor example. MY kids were even asking what those words meant and why Anna could say them but they couldn't.

What do you think I should do?

They're called Neverland Parties and Entertainment in case you were curious.

 

[Mizzoufan]

Holy moly I just read this whole thread only to see it was 7 months old. why would anyone bump this old of thread up. Most importantly why didn't I notice it was old LOL

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

My daughter takes voice lessons and there are two teenage girls at her studio who go to birthday parties as Anna and Elsa. They have the dresses and look like them a little, I guess. I think they will eventually get a "cease and desist" letter, because they advertise with pictures and use the character names. I am certainly not going to be the one to do anything about it, it's none of my business.

Back in the 90's I worked in mall management and one of the malls had a purple dinosaur as a mascot. Even though they had that mascot before Barney became a thing, they still got threatened with a lawsuit over that stupid costume. His name was "Diner-saurus" yep, food court mascot. I didn't name him, by the way!