New York-based Characters for Hire has been accused by Disney subsidiaries of infringing upon their copyrights and trade marks.

1. Dawn Ellmore on Disney’s legal action against ‘rip-off’ costume company
Disney is taking legal action against a company that offers dressed up characters for
kids’ events.
The rise of costumed actors surprising kids with their versions of well-known
characters is not going down well with Disney. New York-based Characters for Hire
has been accused by Disney subsidiaries of infringing upon their copyrights and
trade marks.
Original complaint
The initial complaint was filed on 30 March 2016, followed in November with the
parties filing motions for summary judgement. Now, Marvel, LucasFilm and Disney
are requesting that the Court holds as a matter of Law that Characters for Hire are
infringing their copyright and trade marks, and that they did so wilfully.
In October of this year Characters for Hire (CFH) filed a motion asking the court to
find in their favour against the copyright and trade mark claims. Characters affected
include those from the movie Frozen, classic characters like Snow White and Mickey
Mouse, favourites from the Star Wars franchise, such as Chewbacca and
superheroes like Iron Man.
Basis for infringement
Marvel, LucasFilm and Disney allege that the company’s unlicensed use of
characters infringes their trade marks and copyright. They further allege that the
copied characters are of poor quality, which further dilutes the value of their
Intellectual Property (IP).
As evidence, the plaintiffs cited the ‘F’ rating given to Characters for Hire by the
Better Business Bureau. They further assert that the company’s services are
tarnishing Disney’s image in terms of its characters and the company as a whole.

2. Characters for Hire dispute Disney’s claim
In a statement a representative said: “CFH's advertising and promotional materials
do not copy, reproduce, distribute or display any of the two-dimensional artwork that
is the subject of those copyright registrations.
"Each of [Disney's trade mark] claims fail for essentially the same reason – there is
simply no likelihood of confusion that arises from CFH's activities as to the source or
sponsorship of the costumed entertainment services that CFH provides."
However, Disney goes on to say that CFH have changed the names of its characters
in their attempt to distance them from the Disney owned property. They explain that
changing phrases such as “Star Wars story line” to “Star Battles story line”, “Darth
Vader” to “Dark Lord” and “Chewbacca” to “Big Hairy Guy” is a clear infringement.
Related pending case
A related case is pending filed by Capitol Speciality Insurance Corporation. This
claim wants a declaratory judgement to determine CFH’s rights to insurance for the
Disney, Marvel and LucasFilm lawsuit.
Disney says that CFH has displayed Disney characters on its website and also
arranges for characters in Disney costumes to appear at clients’ parties. In the same
way, LucasFilms claims that Star Wars characters were displayed on the website
and their social media channels and were sent out to 51 parties.
Counter claim by CFH
CFH argue that they have the right to use the characters, as they derive from ancient
fairy tales and Norse mythology. They say that Disney’s characters are largely based
on characters that have been in the public domain for centuries (Snow White,
Aladdin, Tor, Loki, Little Mermaid etc).
How the Court will treat the difference between fairy tales in the public domain and
Disney’s additions remains to be seen. As Disney has progressed over the years,
their stories have shifted further away from the original fairy tales that they’re based
on. In the early days Snow White and Cinderella were close to the original stories,
while Frozen is only very loosely based on an original story. This could be a
deliberate move by Disney to retain more hold over their IP and merchandising
connected with the films.
Likely outcome
Experts think that it’s likely the Court will grant the motion for summary judgement on
liability to the Plaintiffs. This effectively means that the Court will hold that CFH is
legally infringing on the Plaintiff’s copyrights and trade marks.
About Dawn Ellmore Employment
Dawn Ellmore Employment was incorporated in 1995 and is a market leader in
intellectual property and legal recruitment.