Unauthorized Disney Merchandise

[BrightMorningStar]

This is completely ridiculous. It is Disney's intellectual property and therefore illegal, but Disney needs to shut down every single seller on etsy, Facebook, etc who are selling ears, shirts, party supplies, doorbell frames, SVGs, wall art, etc. I have known people that make 50K plus a year off Disney's intellectual property. They also need to go after these people who are making a living on being personal shoppers, which is or at one time against Disney policies for Annual passes.

I know a lady who worked in the Piracy (Tips) Department for Disney. She told me they go after people who are heavily reported or selling bootlegs of their movies, but for the most part they do not care. She now works in the HR department for a particular WDW park and said they are harder on their employees selling merch they got with their CM discount than they are people who are using their intellectual property to make a living.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

One of the prohibited activities: "Photography, videotaping or recording of any kind, or otherwise engaging in any activity, for unapproved commercial purposes."

My sister is not a professional photographer. She is a stay-at-home mom who has learned how to use her camera quite well. When we go on vacation together she takes her gear (no tripods or sticks) with her and photographs the family doing pretty much everything. She has been approached by Disney management on multiple occasions and told she cannot take photographs and they cite their policy. She politely explains to them that she is not a professional photographer, but is self-taught and is simply with her family on vacation making memories. One manager apologized and walked away. Others have forcefully made her put her camera up and one even told her she could put it in a locker or leave the park and return without it.

 

[dioxide45]

My sister is not a professional photographer. She is a stay-at-home mom who has learned how to use her camera quite well. When we go on vacation together she takes her gear (no tripods or sticks) with her and photographs the family doing pretty much everything. She has been approached by Disney management on multiple occasions and told she cannot take photographs and they cite their policy. She politely explains to them that she is not a professional photographer, but is self-taught and is simply with her family on vacation making memories. One manager apologized and walked away. Others have forcefully made her put her camera up and one even told her she could put it in a locker or leave the park and return without it.

Even if you are self taught, you could still be professionbal. The wording in the T&C is regarding "commerical" activity. They don't mention "professional photographer".

Commercial activity in this regard would mean you are getting paid to take photographs that day while in the park. Like a family could pay you to follow them around and take photographs vs. a professional photographer taking photos while at the park for their own personal use. If you are getting paid while at the park to take photos, that would be commercial. If you are taking photos to print on canvas and sell, that would be commercial. If you are taking photos with your traveling party with no compensation to share with them, that isn't commercial.

Given the circumstance you described, with lots of gear, I could see how a CM could come to the conclusion that she was doing commercial work.

 

[dioxide45]

This is completely ridiculous. It is Disney's intellectual property and therefore illegal, but Disney needs to shut down every single seller on etsy, Facebook, etc who are selling ears, shirts, party supplies, doorbell frames, SVGs, wall art, etc. I have known people that make 50K plus a year off Disney's intellectual property. They also need to go after these people who are making a living on being personal shoppers, which is or at one time against Disney policies for Annual passes.

I know a lady who worked in the Piracy (Tips) Department for Disney. She told me they go after people who are heavily reported or selling bootlegs of their movies, but for the most part they do not care. She now works in the HR department for a particular WDW park and said they are harder on their employees selling merch they got with their CM discount than they are people who are using their intellectual property to make a living.

I am not sure Disney ear headbands would be considered IP. They are pretty generic in their own regard. Disney does own the ears image as IP, but that is a very specific design. Decorating ears with Disney inspired decorations also would not generally be considered IP. I can see IP infringement if one used Disney licensed fabric with characters to create the ears. Another infringement would be if they added tags that indicate the ears are official Disney or Disney license merchandise when it isn't. But just creating ears, as you see many Etsy sellers doing, with "Disney like" designs would be a stretch to consider use of Disney IP.

 

[BrightMorningStar]

I am not sure Disney ear headbands would be considered IP. They are pretty generic in their own regard. Disney does own the ears image as IP, but that is a very specific design. Decorating ears with Disney inspired decorations also would not generally be considered IP. I can see IP infringement if one used Disney licensed fabric with characters to create the ears. Another infringement would be if they added tags that indicate the ears are official Disney or Disney license merchandise when it isn't. But just creating ears, as you see many Etsy sellers doing, with "Disney like" designs would be a stretch to consider use of Disney IP.

Disney does indeed own the Mickey Icon as well as the Minnie icon with the headband and two ears.

 

[dioxide45]

Disney does indeed own the Mickey Icon as well as the Minnie icon with the headband and two ears.

Ears on a headband would be a design patent. Any such patent, if they had one, is likely expired as they can only be extended at most 20 years. Those people creating "Disney themed" ears are not violating Disney trademarks unless they are putting characters on the ears or leading people to beleive the product is official Disney merchandise.

 

[rdaky]

I have used a shopper, my daughter wanted a specific toy from Santa, you could only get it at the parks, it wasn’t high demand or anything but way cheaper for me to pay $20 to a shopper then to fly down to get it.

But a shopper who buys all of the limited addition items is different.

This is my opinion only of course.

The shoppers are buying that one item for you multiplied by soooo many other people. They're making money and they are breaking the rules too. I'm not trying to be rude, but buying from them just encourages them to continue.

 

[NJlauren]

The shoppers are buying that one item for you multiplied by soooo many other people. They're making money and they are breaking the rules too. I'm not trying to be rude, but buying from them just encourages them to continue.

Not rude and I value your opinion. I totally get it, and it’s definitely a problem. However, I don’t think many people go for the random toy their 4 year old had a meltdown over, it’s just not what I see their business being, but again I could be wrong.

 

[nw6675]

Not the Martins, but a Chinese case -

https://wdwnt.com/2023/04/social-me...ke-duffy-and-friends-plush-on-chinese-tiktok/

 

[rdaky]

Not rude and I value your opinion. I totally get it, and it’s definitely a problem. However, I don’t think many people go for the random toy their 4 year old had a meltdown over, it’s just not what I see their business being, but again I could be wrong.

I'm local so I'm aware of several shoppers. They do multiple things. They do go to the parks and pick up special requests- and there are a lot of them. Typically they're not going just for you. They're going for multiple people, and while they are there they are stocking up on the hot items, the limited time items. They use their annual passes for the discount then charge you "retail price" along with their fee. The super sneaky ones have cast member connections and will buy things from the cast member store and resell, risking jobs. And the worst ones are shoplifting. That happens, too. A lot.

 

[Yankee626]

Why aren't we upset when street musicians play artist songs without paying them royalties? Doesn't the writer deserve it?

The funny thing about this is that Disney has to pay royalties if they use their own music to the performers. But commonly bands play music at clubs and dont pay royalties . I'm sure you only have to pay if you record it and sell it.

 

[dioxide45]

I'm local so I'm aware of several shoppers. They do multiple things. They do go to the parks and pick up special requests- and there are a lot of them. Typically they're not going just for you. They're going for multiple people, and while they are there they are stocking up on the hot items, the limited time items. They use their annual passes for the discount then charge you "retail price" along with their fee. The super sneaky ones have cast member connections and will buy things from the cast member store and resell, risking jobs. And the worst ones are shoplifting. That happens, too. A lot.

Disney also has a 30 day return policy, so whatever they can't/don't sell, they just return. I also remember pre and early in the pandemic there were a lot of sellers that would go to the outlet stores and buy up a whole bunch of stuff. Then the stores starting putting a two item limit on more popular items, then the prices went up fairly significantly to where it wasn't as lucrative. Prices have trended back down at the outlet stores, so I am not sure if the resellers have come back.

 

[rdaky]

Disney also has a 30 day return policy, so whatever they can't/don't sell, they just return. I also remember pre and early in the pandemic there were a lot of sellers that would go to the outlet stores and buy up a whole bunch of stuff. Then the stores starting putting a two item limit on more popular items, then the prices went up fairly significantly to where it wasn't as lucrative. Prices have trended back down at the outlet stores, so I am not sure if the resellers have come back.

They never left. I was in MK one day back when the 2 item policy was in effect and watched a woman buy 2 of each size of a t-shirt. (So 2 smalls, 2 mediums, 2 large, etc) Then her friends each purchased 2 per size. They basically wiped out the store of that shirt. The cast members could not do anything about it because technically they were following the rule.

And pins. You buy pins off eBay. Strong possibility that someone stole them. One of my CM friends told me about a woman who recently got caught stealing over 1K worth of pins and had them stuffed in the bottom of her child's stroller, and she was a reseller. Most of them don't get caught or by the time security gets there, they've lost them.

As long as people continue supporting these fake ear sellers, resellers, etc. there will be people who continue to abuse their AP to sell or shoplift to sell. I know everyone wants to save a few dollars or have that special item, but there is almost always someone breaking a rule or law to sell, and it's good to think about what we are promoting when we buy from these types of people. The couple we are talking about on this thread are now banned from Disney and there are still people thinking it's just fine to buy from them.

 

[kylenne]

And pins. You buy pins off eBay. Strong possibility that someone stole them. One of my CM friends told me about a woman who recently got caught stealing over 1K worth of pins and had them stuffed in the bottom of her child's stroller, and she was a reseller. Most of them don't get caught or by the time security gets there, they've lost them.

This is horrific. I am a very casual pin collector and avoid eBay just because of the high probability of junk/fake pins, I can't believe people stoop this low.

 

[rdaky]

This is horrific. I am a very casual pin collector and avoid eBay just because of the high probability of junk/fake pins, I can't believe people stoop this low.

It's not just eBay. I actually don't know where this lady sold them. Just that she was a reseller. I've seen pins sold on Facebook, reseller pages, too. You just don't know how they obtained them. Pins are stolen a lot because they're small and easy to steal, and there is a market for them.

 

[WEDcryoHEAD]

I have purchased 3D printed ears for my wife from an Etsy seller. The character ears can be swapped and mixed and matched in and out of the headbands. They are great. I know its technically giving money to someone who is at best infringing upon licensed images, etc. My wife loves the design and the customizability so much. She wears them more than her licensed ears. I assume Disney never went to this design model because then it limits there ability to force consumers to by a different headband / ears for each character.

 

[kylenne]

It's not just eBay. I actually don't know where this lady sold them. Just that she was a reseller. I've seen pins sold on Facebook, reseller pages, too. You just don't know how they obtained them. Pins are stolen a lot because they're small and easy to steal, and there is a market for them.

Yeah I only ever buy from Disney. There's too many questionable ones in circulation elsewhere.

 

[rdaky]

Yeah I only ever buy from Disney. There's too many questionable ones in circulation elsewhere.

Same. I'm not a big pin person but the ones we do have came directly from Disney. Don't even get me started on the garbage on the pin boards...

 

[AurumPunzel]

Yeah I only ever buy from Disney. There's too many questionable ones in circulation elsewhere.

Not to mention low quality factory seconds that end up passing off as 'genuine'.

 

[Groot]

Now they’re back advertising their wares with a vengeance. Even going as far as creating one of those annoying facebook messenger group chats for just that purpose and lumping everyone in the group into that chat (everyone left said chat in a mass exodus.)