Eventually, the Walt Disney Company’s case against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will end up in the Supreme Court. Questions at stake will continue to be litigated until it reaches the nation’s highest court. Does Governor DeSantis have the right to retribution against a private company for speaking out against a law it doesn’t like? Does the Walt Disney Company have First Amendment rights?
Those issues will eventually be settled, but Disney is not off to a great start with this Supreme Court. Earlier this week, the court ruled against Disney in a case stemming from 2010’s Toy Story 3. In the movie, the main antagonist, Lots-O’-Huggin’ Bear, was trademarked by a New Jersey company. A lower court threw out the lawsuit from Randice-Lisa Altschul’s Diece-Lisa Industries, saying that Disney had a First Amendment right to use the character in its movie.
However, the Supreme Court has sent the case back to the lower court and told them to reconsider it. The Supreme Court said that the lower court went too far in its decision, especially given the culturally significant nature of Toy Story 4. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
The Rogers Standard, which the Supreme Court set in an earlier decision, allows artists to use trademarks when they are relevant to their work and do not mislead customers. In this case, Disney used Lotso in the movie and sold merchandise with him. This Supreme Court, in particular, has tried to reign in the Rogers Standard and further protects trademarked properties.
In the 1990s, Altschul invented a stuffed bear with sleeves that could act as if it were hugging someone. The toy was named “Lots-of-Hugs” and closely resembles the characters from the Pixar film. Their lawsuit is claiming that Disney/Pixar used their trademarked bear without permission and profited off its likeness. The case now heads back to the lower court in California.
This does not bode well for Disney in this case or its future cases before the Supreme Court. The makeup of this court has skewed sharply to the right and has restricted several rights. Disney’s case against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is in Florida District Court but should eventually land in the Supreme Court. But that could take decades.
This case started in 2012 and has just been decided. So, when the Disney/DeSantis case is heard, all this will be a distant memory. By then, who knows where Gov Ron DeSantis will be and who knows what Walt Disney World will look like? And we can only imagine what free speech will look like in that time.
We will continue to update this story at Disney Fanatic.
