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Disney Sues DVD Rip-Off Company
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:16 am
by Sotiris
Disney is threatening to sue Brightspark Productions, a UK-based company over the similarities of their DVD covers with corresponding Disney movies.
Disney started investigating this issue in August in a story run by UK's
Daily Record.
Disney’s lawyers have started an investigation after US studio bosses were alerted to the film. They are angry that the title is so similar to their summer money-spinner and also believe Braver’s artwork may mislead consumers into believing the movie is connected to their own Highland tale about Princess Merida.
A Disney source said: “We’re surprised that supermarkets have agreed to put this film on their shelves because the people behind it haven’t exactly been subtle.The title and lettering on the cover are almost identical to Brave and there’s even a red-haired princess wearing a green dress."
Brightspark was set up in 1997 by ex-BBC man Jeremy Davis, 44. His wife Jackie, 34, is also a director of the firm. Last night Jeremy denied that he had ripped-off Brave and insisted consumers wouldn’t get the films mixed-up.
He said: “Braver is an item for families on a budget and I very much doubt that anyone would confuse our production with the wonderful work of Disney. All we’ve tried to do is give parents something their children will hopefully find entertaining. We came up with our title around 18 months ago and if we thought consumers would mistake our film for Brave, we would have renamed it."
A spokeswoman for Disney said: “I can confirm that our legal team are looking into this. Disney seeks to protect their intellectual property rights and takes suspected infringement seriously.”
Now Disney has released the following
statement:
"People place great trust in the quality and creativity of Disney and, when it appears that another company is causing confusion, we will act to protect ourselves and the consumer. Disney believes that Brightspark has demonstrated a pattern of misleading consumers with numerous releases that confuse and undermine the trust those consumers have in Disney," Disney's European senior vice-president Peter Wiley said.
Brightspark Productions responded with: "We are currently talking to Disney to find a mutually acceptable resolution".
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:25 am
by Jules
I side with Disney.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:26 am
by Sotiris
Brightspark Productions is obviously lying when they say "We came up with our title around 18 months ago and if we thought consumers would mistake our film for Brave, we would have renamed it" as the movie has been released years ago with a different title and a more suitable cover.
Braver is simply a re-packaged, re-titled DVD of this movie:
[youtube]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZMl-PedK8I[/youtube]
You can read more about the plot
here.
Brightspark Productions has done this before; it has re-packaged a previously-released film to look like
Tangled.
Here are the American and Japanese posters for
Tangled and the DVD cover for
Tangled Up.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:30 am
by Victurtle
Families on a budget can rent...
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:03 am
by jazzflower92
Finally they really need to sue these companies because they are not even trying to disguise themselves as blatant knock offs.I mean in the 90's they at least were a little orginal but these days its just blatant cash in to fool parents into buying that movie.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:57 am
by pap64
I'm siding with Disney too on this one. I seriously doubt that Braver was not in any way, shape or form trying to copy Brave and steal away some of its thunder.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:11 pm
by PatrickvD
Though there have been many rip-offs... Braver takes the cake. I mean, the title alone is SO funny.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 3:04 pm
by TheValentineBros
And that's why I don't pay attention to animated features that acts like the Asylum, where they rip blockbuster movies and release it straight-to-video prior to the real movie's release.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 3:14 pm
by Semaj
Disney has my full support to crush these copycats.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 3:18 pm
by Atlantica
I'm not sure why these other companies even bother to produce these travesties?! Surely they know they will end up being caught?
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 3:42 pm
by PixarFan2006
It took Disney this long to notice the copycat releases? Still, they have my support.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 3:47 pm
by qindarka
atlanticaunderthesea wrote:I'm not sure why these other companies even bother to produce these travesties?! Surely they know they will end up being caught?
Well, they have gotten away with it so far. And I imagine they do get quite a bit of money out of this from the deception and I doubt the production cost is anything significant.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 6:25 pm
by Mickeyfan1990
Glad Disney is suing! It might finally bring an end to these terrible CGI ripoffs.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 6:53 pm
by TheValentineBros
Mickeyfan1990 wrote:Glad Disney is suing! It might finally bring an end to these terrible CGI ripoffs.
Woah, woah, let's not get carried away. After all, another ripoff company, The Asylum was sued twice by two humongous movie studios, 20th Century Fox and Universal, and yet The Asylum still makes movies.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 7:41 pm
by jazzflower92
TheValentineBros wrote:Mickeyfan1990 wrote:Glad Disney is suing! It might finally bring an end to these terrible CGI ripoffs.
Woah, woah, let's not get carried away. After all, another ripoff company, The Asylum was sued twice by two humongous movie studios, 20th Century Fox and Universal, and yet The Asylum still makes movies.
They haven't learned anything.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 7:44 pm
by thelittleursula
Yup siding with Disney as well ! Though I sorta want to see how they rip off the upcoming Frozen. Freeze ?, Cold ? Winter ? lol
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:39 pm
by DisneyJedi
About time they take action. Now if only they could rip into the same company that made Ratatoing.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:48 pm
by Heil Donald Duck
I don't care how this goes.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 9:17 pm
by Elladorine
Heil Donald Duck wrote:I don't care how this goes.
Well, thank you for so generously informing us.
Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:26 pm
by Disney's Divinity
^
But, really, I can't say I'm sympathetic for these rip-offs and their creators
at all. Although I know there are lines made that keep Disney from suing every rip-off out there (usually for good reason, with the rip-offs as a negative consequence), Brave was an original creation as far as I know. They can't even claim to have taken their story from the same fairy tale as a fake defense, like with the Disney knock-offs from over the years.
