The Disney Company is being sued; something the company is quite used to at this point. This time the issue revolves around one of the characters from the 2010 blockbuster sequel, Toy Story 3. The psychotic villain from the film, the pink fluffy bear, Lotso, is the main point of concern for New Jersey based Toy Company, Diece-Lisa Industries (DLI).
According to the Hollywood Reporter DLI has licensed, patented and trademarked a line of cuddly toys called ‘Lots of Hugs’ since around 1995. DLI claims that Lotso in the Disney film is an illegal copy and imitation of the bears from its ‘Lots of Hugs’ line. Overally the company is suing Disney for infringement and unfair competition.
The Wrap also states that DLI claims Disney knew about the toy company’s product even before production for the film began because the company had given over its “hugging” technology to the Henson Company for the famous TV show Bear in the Big Blue House. The Henson Company had used the technology to make its own line of huggable stuffed bears inspired from characters from the show. Ironically, the Henson Company is owned by Disney who always makes The Muppets films.
It was also reported that DLI is wanting to sue Disney as well to make sure that they don’t use or exploit the Lotso character in the future.
Overall, it seems DLI was perhaps threatened by Disney’s success over the film, which made about $1 billion world-wide when the film came out and even more with merchandise sales. With Disney’s track record of always winning in court when being sued, it will be interesting to see if DLI succeed in their mission to sue Disney.
Image: Wikimedia Commons>