DisneyFanatic.com The Latest News, Advice, and Perspective from Disney Fans for Disney Fans!
If you know nothing else about the Walt Disney Company, you know that they tend to get a little prickly about their copyrights, and if you violate them, they are quick to sue you. Disney famously sued a childcare center for posting paintings of Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters. Disney changed United States copyright law to protect Mickey Mouse; however, those laws couldn’t stop Steamboat Willie from entering the public domain on January 1.
Steamboat Willie / Credit: D23
Related: Disney Suffers Another Legal Setback with More to Come
But now, Disney and Lucasfilm have gone to great lengths to protect their Star Wars franchise and its copyrights. Disney and Lucasfilm are suing a Chilean car wash, claiming it infringed on their copyright and plagiarized from the Star Wars franchise. Matias Jara is the owner of “Star Wash” in Santiago, Chili. “Star Wash” is famous for its Star Wars-themed car wash.
Mr. Jara has posted dozens of social media videos showing Star Wars characters performing various tasks around “Star Wash.” Those videos show Chewbacca and Storm Troopers wiping down cars, bounty hunter Boba Fett and Cassian Andor holding hosepipe instead of blasters, and Darth Vader summing cleaning supplies with the Force.
Jara said he got the idea for “Star Wash” while on a trip to Walt Disney World with his daughter. He was in the process of registering his brand with the Chilean patent authority when Lucasfilm sued him. The lawsuit claims that Jara is violating copyrights from the Star Wars franchise.
The law firm representing “Star Wash” owner Matias Jara said that Disney did not take issue with the attendants dressed as their characters, but in the suit claimed that the name of Jara’s carwash in the Chilean capital could confuse fans and make them think it was affiliated with Lucasfilm and the Walt Disney Company.
Jara said that his car wash is not making a movie and that the production company’s copyright does extend to toys, furniture, and beverages but not to cleaning cars. He said that as a small business, he did not expect a lawsuit from a multinational corporation.
Credit: Lucasfilm
Related: Bombarded On All Sides, Disney Must Face Antitrust Lawsuit
Of course this lawsuit is affecting us. We’re a small business and we’re spending on things we hadn’t budgeted for. We don’t make movies or sell their products or anything like that. We are a stellar car wash.
