Disney, famous for its film series featuring the memorable song "You've Got A Friend In Me," has had a less than friendly year in the legal landscape in 2023.
Numerous lawsuits, primarily involving Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have characterized the year. In an interesting twist, a previous case against the media giant has received the green light to move forward from the U.S. Supreme Court.
What Happened: An old lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company DIS is nearing its next step, and it could add to the year of legal troubles for the media giant.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the case against Disney by a toy creator must be heard. The lawsuit is over the rights to the Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear character that appeared in “Toy Story 3.”
Disney previously won a court ruling that it was protected against the lawsuit, but the Supreme Court overturned that ruling, according to Reuters.
Diece Lisa Industries has been battling Disney dating back to 2012. Prior to the Supreme Court’s new ruling, the toy company was told that the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protected Disney under “freedom of speech.”
The Supreme Court has asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the lawsuit with the new interpretation of trademark law. The ruling comes after the Supreme Court recently ruled against a vinyl chew toy that parodies the Jack Daniel’s brand.
Randi Altschul created a stuffed animal in 1994 with the name Lots of Hugs. The character was trademarked by Altschul and her toy company, which led to a lawsuit against Disney.
The 2010 film “Toy Story 3” featured a similar likeness bear that was also similarly named Lots-o’-Huggin’ Bear, nicknamed Lotso for short.
Related Link: Disney Q2 Earnings Highlights: Details On Revenue Beat, Disney+ Subs And How All Of The Mouse's Streaming Platforms Performed
Why It’s Important: The 2010 film from Disney is one of the company’s Pixar unit's most popular movies of all time. The movie grossed $415 million domestically and $1.07 billion worldwide. The film ranks as the 35th and 39th highest grossing movie domestically and worldwide according to BoxOfficeMojo.
The film also won the Academy Award for Best Animated Film.
Past rulings in favor of Disney ruled that the media company was protected under the First Amendment and never showed that Disney didn’t copy the name and likeness of the Lots of Hugs character.
A future ruling could indicate that Disney owes license fees and royalties over the movie’s box office and the Lots-o’-Huggin Bear toys. The good news for Disney, if there is any, is that Lotso was only featured heavily in the “Toy Story 3” film. The bad news is that the huggable bear was also featured as a cameo in “Up” and “Cars 2.” Lotso was also featured in several video games.
While Disney has previously had favorable rulings in this case, the company now has the unfortunate timing of dealing with the lawsuit again as it deals with a fierce battle against presidential candidate DeSantis.
The good news for Disney could be the appointment of Judge Allen Winsor in its case against DeSantis. Winsor was appointed to the bench by former President Donald Trump. Some experts believe the battle between Trump and DeSantis could see favor shifted to Disney due to the new judge. Winsor has thrown out previous lawsuits that challenged the Parental Rights in Education Act that was signed by DeSantis.
Disney and DeSantis have battled for years with the signing of the Parental Rights in Education Act, which is commonly known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, being the key to the fight.
Seeing Disney's public opposition to the bill prompted DeSantis to suggest new rights that would transfer authority over a special district, which includes the Walt Disney World theme park, from Disney to the state of Florida and DeSantis himself.
Disney fighting for a workaround to the new act has angered DeSantis further and seen the governor threatening lawsuits, putting a jail near Disney World and even selling off land.
Read Next: Has Disney Vs. DeSantis Feud Hurt Voter Sentiment Toward The Governor?
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