Looks like Walt Disney Enterprises has lifted the ire of Diece-Lisa Industries yet again, this time over a "Toy Story" character.
New Jersey toymaker Diece-Lisa Industries claims that Disney copied the "Toy Story 3" character Lotso and is being sued in a Texas federal court for trademark infringement and unfair competition.
Lotso is a purple, strawberry-scented teddy bear who is the main antagonist of "Toy Story 3." In the film he harboured a grudge from his previous owner and took over Sunnyside Daycare with an iron hand.
DLI claims that Lotso is too similar to the "Lots of Hugs" Technology and stuffed bears to which they have produced since mid-1990s and re-trademarked in 2007.
Needless to say that Disney wasn't aware of the product directly, the filing this week notes that the toymaker licensed the hugging tech to products related to the Jim Henson Company's bear In The Big Blue House TV series which was sold to Disney in 2004. Noting the box office success of the Toy Story sequel from Pixar and the $7 billion is has made in merchandise, Diece-Lisa wants unspecified damages as well as an injunction stopping Disney from future use of the character and declarations from the court as to its rights.
"Potential customers will likely improperly associate or confuse Defendant DEI's 'Lots-O'-Huggin' and 'Lotso' character with Plaintiff DLI's stuffed toys, including its bears, as identified with Plaintiff DLI's 'Lots of Hugs' mark," says Diece-Lisa's filing in the eastern district of Texas. "In fact, Plaintiff DLI has been required to develop a new mark due to the likelihood of confusion with and the concern that Plaintiff DLI's 'Lots of Hugs' toys will be improperly associated or confused with the Defendant DEI's 'Lots-O'-Huggin' and 'Lotso' character," it adds.
Diece-Lisa cites that when the company signed a licensing deal for its bears in July 2011 with Interactive Group, the latter forced them to change the name of the characters to "hugalots" to avoid customers thinking it was related to the Toy Story 3 character. Interestingly, Diece-Lisa notes in its 14-page complaint that Disney never claimed copyright protection for Lotso AKA Lots-O'-Huggin character, voiced by Ned Beatty, despite doing so for every other major Toy Story character. With all that said, it's worth asking whether this third attempt by Diece-Lisa will achieve much more than the past ones?
The plaintiff is represented by Richard Schwartz of Ft. Worth firm Whitaker Chalk, Swindle & Schwartz.
