Comments on: Does Disney Own the Concept of a Castle?

By: Ian Bogost

Ian Bogost — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:13:29 +0000

It’s quite common to see custom-printed t-shirts at disney world worn by groups in a large party. I’ve never heard of anyone given any trouble, and indeed it’s likely because the products aren’t being offered for sale, but are just used by the parties in question. It’s likely in that case that, if pushed, they would be protected as satire/parody. But I doubt it’s ever come to that. I can’t imagine Disney would throw someone out of the park for a custom t-shirt IP infringement!

By: jfischer1975

jfischer1975 — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 14:41:11 +0000

Steve, thanks for your comment. The short answer to your question is “yes.” You should always be weary about using someone else’s images or trademarks. That said, there is only a very small likelihood that Disney will go after you for a t-shirt worn by kids participating in your field trip to the Magic Kingdom. The most significant thing that Mr. Bogost did, which may have put him on Disney’s radar, was offering his t-shirt design for sale to the public. Without knowing all of the specifics of your situation, I can’t say for sure whether you’re diving into hot water, but based on the information that I have, you are probably only dipping your toes into some risk. Please feel free to contact our offices by phone (321-255-2332) if you’d like to discuss the particulars of your case.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:30:16 +0000

I have a question about this story. We are going to disney and spending 60k getting there. We are doing a shirt to wear at our Disney event. On the back of the shirt I have taken Mickey and a few other disney characters and replaced them with 4 of the staff’s faces. We are giving the shirts to the kids and not charging them at all. Is this something to be worried about?

By: Paul Godfread

Paul Godfread — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:59:29 +0000

I understand Zazzle’s position because they really don’t want to get in the middle of a lawsuit.

Nonetheless, I have a real concern that websites in general (not just Zazzle) are helping to shut down what would otherwise be legitimate expression. Not because they want to, but because they cant afford to get wrapped up in litigation.

As to Ian’s comment. I don’t know if a class action would make sense unless you could find a particular company that had sent a large number of similar DMCA notices that were all unwarranted. My guess is Disney sends a large number of very legitimate DMCA notices and hopefully this is an exception.

By: Ian Bogost

Ian Bogost — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 22:09:38 +0000

This was my impression too. It may interest you to know that since I posted that, Zazzle has pulled all of my “por favor” t-shirts. They told me that they had received an IP infringement claim from Disney but did not specify what IP I was supposedly infringing upon. When I asked they simply did not respond.

I’ve been very busy but meaning to get back to this and post an update. I think it’s pretty clear that Disney is issuing blanket claims and Zazzle is simply rubber-stamping them.

I suspect it’s not just Disney, too. There’s probably an interesting class-action suit in this for some attorney inclined toward such matters.