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No, Disney Probably Didn't Infringe A Unicorn Van Artist's Copyright, But It Would Have Sued If The Roles Were Reversed

No, Disney Probably Didn't Infringe A Unicorn Van Artist's Copyright, But It Would Have Sued If The Roles Were Reversed

4 years ago
Anonymous $-riAjkQg_1

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20200218/13533043944/no-disney-probably-didnt-infringe-unicorn-van-artists-copyright-it-would-have-sued-if-roles-were-reversed.shtml

If there is ever a Copyright Protectionist Hall of Fame built, it should probably be constructed on the grounds of one Disney theme park or another. As regular readers here will already know, Disney is notoriously aggressive in its enforcement of intellectual property generally, and in copyright specifically. Hell, the 1998 CTEA, which extended the terms of copyright, is more commonly referred to as "The Mickey Mouse Protection Act." Our pages are absolutely littered with stories of Disney bullying others over copyrights, often times to ridiculous lengths.

Well, the shoe is on the other foot in this latest story. You may have seen ads recently for a forthcoming Pixar movie, Onward, which features two elves that take a road trip in a colorful van to try to meet and speak with their dead father. Well, one tattoo artist from California, named Cicely Daniher, is claiming that the depiction of that van represents copyright infringement of her own quite colorful van.