{"id":373,"date":"2017-12-13T17:19:25","date_gmt":"2017-12-13T17:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/?p=373"},"modified":"2019-01-19T10:37:32","modified_gmt":"2019-01-19T10:37:32","slug":"disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><a href=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/December-13th-Picture.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-374\" src=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/December-13th-Picture-150x150.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"157\" height=\"157\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In a two year-long battle with Disney, Marvel, and Lucas Film, Characters for Hire recently filed a motion for summary judgment asking the district court to find in its favor. The internet based entertainment-for-hire company was sued by Disney back in 2016 for allegedly infringing its iconic character trademarks. More specifically, Disney claims Characters for Hire is a \u201cknock-off business\u2026built upon the infringement of Disney\u2019s highly valuable intellectual property rights.\u201d The party entertainment company uses characters such as Mickey Mouse, Snow White, Iron Man, Captain America, Luke Skywalker, and Chewbacca in its appearances at themed events. Characters for Hire particularly disclaims any authorization by Disney of its promotion and sale of its characters. Rather, the company claims a reference to characters such as Frozen\u2019s Elsa is \u201cmerely descriptive\u201d of the services the consumer receives, that is, an actor hired to dress and behave like a famous animated character. Interestingly, back in 2003, Disney utilized a similar argument when it was sued by Caterpillar for using its distinct logo on construction equipment in \u201cGeorge of the Jungle 2.\u201d Indeed, Disney contended its use was not intended to create a likelihood of confusion that the construction equipment company either endorsed or sponsored the film. Trademark tarnishment occurs when an infringing mark portrays the protected trademark in a negative way or is placed upon low quality goods. Disney argues Characters for Hire is thereby tricking the public into believing its characters are authorized by Disney and will be Disney-quality. Thus, tarnishment of a trademark threatens to diminish the commercial value of the mark as consumers associate the inferior quality of the infringer\u2019s products with the trademark owner\u2019s unrelated goods. #omnilegalgroup #trademark #Disney #Marvel #LucasFilm <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a two year-long battle with Disney, Marvel, and Lucas Film, Characters for Hire recently filed a motion for summary judgment asking the district court to find in its favor. The internet based entertainment-for-hire company was sued by Disney back in 2016 for allegedly infringing its iconic character trademarks. More specifically, Disney claims Characters for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters - Omni Legal Group Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters - Omni Legal Group Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a two year-long battle with Disney, Marvel, and Lucas Film, Characters for Hire recently filed a motion for summary judgment asking the district court to find in its favor. The internet based entertainment-for-hire company was sued by Disney back in 2016 for allegedly infringing its iconic character trademarks. More specifically, Disney claims Characters for...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Omni Legal Group Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-13T17:19:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-19T10:37:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Disney.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"386\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"386\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Omid Khalifeh\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Omid Khalifeh\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Omid Khalifeh\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e88d4972c6e30001cc41817b64d35fa4\"},\"headline\":\"Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-13T17:19:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-19T10:37:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/\"},\"wordCount\":290,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Disney.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/\",\"name\":\"Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters - Omni Legal Group Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Disney.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-12-13T17:19:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-19T10:37:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e88d4972c6e30001cc41817b64d35fa4\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Disney.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Disney.png\",\"width\":386,\"height\":386},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Omni Legal Group Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e88d4972c6e30001cc41817b64d35fa4\",\"name\":\"Omid Khalifeh\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/565923ffc8a80adddedf281a6f7f8052a83bed9b1506537aa4654cebd9b3097a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/565923ffc8a80adddedf281a6f7f8052a83bed9b1506537aa4654cebd9b3097a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Omid Khalifeh\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/author\/omid-khalifeh\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters - Omni Legal Group Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters - Omni Legal Group Blog","og_description":"In a two year-long battle with Disney, Marvel, and Lucas Film, Characters for Hire recently filed a motion for summary judgment asking the district court to find in its favor. The internet based entertainment-for-hire company was sued by Disney back in 2016 for allegedly infringing its iconic character trademarks. More specifically, Disney claims Characters for...","og_url":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/","og_site_name":"Omni Legal Group Blog","article_published_time":"2017-12-13T17:19:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-01-19T10:37:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":386,"height":386,"url":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Disney.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Omid Khalifeh","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Omid Khalifeh","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/"},"author":{"name":"Omid Khalifeh","@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e88d4972c6e30001cc41817b64d35fa4"},"headline":"Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters","datePublished":"2017-12-13T17:19:25+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-19T10:37:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/"},"wordCount":290,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Disney.png","articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/","url":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/","name":"Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters - Omni Legal Group Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Disney.png","datePublished":"2017-12-13T17:19:25+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-19T10:37:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e88d4972c6e30001cc41817b64d35fa4"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Disney.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Disney.png","width":386,"height":386},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/disney-tries-to-knock-out-knock-off-characters\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Disney Tries to Knock Out Knock-Off Characters"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/","name":"Omni Legal Group Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e88d4972c6e30001cc41817b64d35fa4","name":"Omid Khalifeh","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/565923ffc8a80adddedf281a6f7f8052a83bed9b1506537aa4654cebd9b3097a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/565923ffc8a80adddedf281a6f7f8052a83bed9b1506537aa4654cebd9b3097a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Omid Khalifeh"},"url":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/author\/omid-khalifeh\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3166,"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373\/revisions\/3166"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/omnilegalgroup.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}