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The Disney Genie service has been controversial since its start, but now the Mouse House is being sued over the technology the app uses.
The Disney Genie suite has been much debated and addressed, whether by Disney executives or by Disney Guests, ever since its release. The service, which includes the Lightning Lane and paid Genie+ service, replaced the (free) FastPass reservation system. Introduced during former Disney CEO Bob Chapek’s tenure, the service has been known to cause Guests a lot of frustration on more than one count.
Disney Characters, Magic Kingdom Park/Disney
But while many Guests have had myriad issues with this system, the cause of this recent lawsuit might surprise more than one fan. As reported by Orlando Business Journal, California-based Agile Journeys LLC filed a lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company on December 2.
Rather than being related to functionality or cost, which Disney has faced lawsuits over before, the new lawsuit alleges Disney engaged in a patent infringement of one of Agile Journeys’ patents, being used in Disney Genie and Disney Genie+.
Main Street, U.S.A., Magic Kingdom/Disney
The patent was reportedly published way back in 2002, being dubbed “Method and Apparatus for Providing Visitors with a Personalized Itinerary and Managed Access to Attractions.”
“Disney has infringed and continues to infringe (literally and/or under the doctrine of equivalents), directly, indirectly, and/or through subsidiaries, agents, representatives or intermediaries, one or more claims of the [patent] by making, using, testing, supplying, causing to be supplied, selling and/or offering for sale in the United States the Disney Genie system, including the Disney Genie App.”
Disney Genie+/Disney
The lawsuit also alleges that Disney attempted to patent its own system previously, with the lawsuit claiming that the applications were “rejected.”
Prior to this, most recently, the Disney Genie service was in the news for its sudden and drastic price drop. After the Walt Disney Company announced that the service would start having variable pricing earlier this year, just over a week ago, the Disney Genie service saw its lowest price since the announcement of variable pricing yet.
Read More: Disney Genie+ Sees Drastic Price Drop
The consists of + and (including the Invidiual ) using which can pay either by or by person to get a fast track to their of choice. of the and the both utilize this service.
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