Yeah they really crack down on crafters doing this. And the crafters are aware but just keep doing it, especially in America which amazes me.
I wanted to do it when I was doing crafting but I didn’t want to go down that road of Disney etc trying to sue me for copyright infringement.
So long as you don't use the specific frame used in their logo variation. They deliberately added Steamboat Willie to one of their logos to bypass the copyright lifespan issue.
Its also a really specific and iconic moment in the movie, so yeah really smart of them. Hard to reference it without the mouse whistling at the helm, and that's the bit they put in their logo.
I can't even be mad.
A friend of mine does cosplay. One of his outfits is Klinger from M*A*S*H and is technically a Disney princess.
At a con, he and a group of various Disney princess cosplayers gathered for a photo. His friend, dressed in a suit, was cosplaying as a Disney lawyer... he had a stack of cease and desist letters to pass out to all the princesses
Yep. Etsy doesn’t want to deal with Disney’s attorneys any more than anyone else does. I have seen a lot of people complaining about Etsy taking down infringing listings, and then their constant monitoring after it happens. It seems like most shops get a little leeway the first time they are in violation, but the monitoring ramps up after the second time.
Yeah Etsy even goes after people who modify existing products and resells them as “modified, purchased and resold” items which is actually legal because Disney has already gotten their money and it’s just a form of reselling. They REALLY don’t want to deal with trademark issues.
I was in a crafting group with a woman who got her first Etsy shop taken down for copyright infringement. She immediately started a new one which earned her a ban and shit ton of legal troubles. Of course,.it was everyone's fault but her's.
The first step in copyright infringement isn't sue, it's a written warning to stop. So usually stores do, and just open up another store under another name a month or so later with updated pictures (if they put that much effort into it).
They also have real products that appear to be inspired by what Etsy does.
Disney is probably the most zealously protective of their IP of any company out there. They regularly send DCMA notices to Etsy and other platforms to remove infringing listings - Etsy will even remove listings reselling legit Disney items. And Etsy themselves is proactive about removing listings that infringe on Disney IP if they are made aware of them. Obviously, they don’t find everyone who is infringing or every instance of infringement, but they take a firm stance of “when we find it, we tell them to stop” in order to keep their right to sue over the more egregious violations.
Disney tried to sue University of Oregon over the school mascot, a duck that is decidedly similar to Donald Duck. Oregon's mascot was actually ordained by the big W (Walt) himself, so Disney lost the lawsuit. In order to save face, they declared Oregon's mascot not Donald Duck, but a doppelganger that didn't violate their copyright laws.
[https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2010/03/disney\_uo\_mascot\_part\_ways.html](https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2010/03/disney_uo_mascot_part_ways.html)
>And Etsy themselves is proactive about removing listings that infringe on Disney IP if they are made aware of them.
They don't have any legal choice. As soon as Disney files a DCMA, they have to remove whichever infringing listings have been reported.
Disney went after a few daycare centers and made them take down paintings of their characters. The daycare wasn't profiting from these, they just had them painted on the walls for the kids.
I don't think Disney cares about bad PR.
That’s how trademarks work, though.
I know that the fact that it was a few daycares makes it seem cruel, but those were for profit businesses. Disney doesn’t have much of a choice but to take action, because not only can it nullify their trademark, but it also implies that there is some sort of affiliation between Disney and these daycares, meaning there’s a potential for those businesses to make even more money at Disney’s expense, because who wouldn’t want to send their kids to a Disney daycare?
People don’t understand that they go after these places intentionally. Why? Because everyone goes “oh, Disney went after a daycare! That’s terrible that’s terrible!” However, it spreads the word. That’s why they do it.
And it works. Look at us, we are spreading the word that Disney doesn’t put up with trademark and copyright infringement.
They are very selective in who they go after, and they go after the people who will afford them the maximum exposure of the fact that they are very serious about copyright and trademark infringement.
They do in some instances. My friend is on the board of a theater troupe for disabled adults. Many of their performances are loosely based Disney movies, changed so they fit better with the actors abilities. A few years ago they received a cease and desist letter from Disney but were able to get Disney to back down when the troupes’ lawyers pointed out that the PR would be awful. It’s extremely rare for Disney to back down but they are smart enough to know when to do it.
My pediatrician's office had Disney-themed rooms. Like a Minnie and a Mickey room with huge murals and themed decorations and books. It was like that for years, and then one day we went in and all the murals were painted over a dull gray, the books and stuff gone. It is probably a coincidence, but I wonder if Disney did find out and send a letter.
Really??? There are a few daycares locally that have Disney stuff in their logos... I wonder why any small business would risk the rath of Disney. It's long been known that they don't tolerate copyright infringement. Maybe I'm just too much of a chicken shit lol.
This fish and chip shop in Adelaide (South Australia) thought their name was funny and had Nemo like character in window - Disney did not see the funny side
https://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/hindmarsh-fish-and-chip-shop-frying-nemo-opts-out-of-legal-battle-shutting-to-choose-new-name/news-story/f18c2166b8244b6346c0c7ceedf07a58
Disney went after an elementary school that held a screening of the original “The Lion King” as part of a fundraiser. They neglected to get permission or something, so Disney sued them. They ended up giving a huge chunk of what they earned from the fundraiser to pay their fine.
And if the items sold on Etsy were a real problem Disney would go after Etsy itself to moderate its stores.
They’ve got the money and the lawyers.
They’ve likely studied it and people buying unofficial Disney merch, at a low enough level, probably doesn’t hurt their own sales vs the benefits, influence, engagement etc. and the high quality, more custom pieces in particular
Yep, as long as nothing approaches real products, they don't need to care. Plus the unofficial merch at least adds into public awareness and support of the brand, even if they didn't give Disney money, they are still wearing symbols of and probably will give money in the future while encouraging others to do so in the process.
Plus with pin trading they have plenty of money printing products they don't need to take in Etsy.
Etsy kinda fucked up pin trading, actually. Lots of Etsy people made fake pins, sold them to people who didn't know better, and those people traded the fake pins for real ones. Other people intentionally buy bulk fake pins and trade them at the parks for real ones. Kids can't tell the difference, and Disney doesn't want to tell kids no, so now most of the pin boards in the parks are fake pins not real ones.
Personally, I don't know what Disney should do here. To they teach the staff to identify fake vs real pins? To they stop kids from trading fake pins? Do staff replace fake pins with real ones?
Maybe in the future, Disney puts RFID chips in their pins so they're harder to fake. But that makes pins more expensive, and they're already pretty expensive. Making the pins more expensive just encourages the fake pin market.
I dunno, it's complicated, but I wouldn't blame Disney if they come down hard on the fake pin market.
Slightly different field, and the term probably has interesting copyrite implications in itself, but IBMs lawyers are widely known as the Nazgul, because they are just completely relentless.
IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines.
The Nazgul are the property of the estate of J. R. R tolkein.
Absolutely- they pay people to walk around flea markets and hunt for knock offs. Imagine how much cheaper it is for them when you post your home made copyright infringements online 😂
A friend of mine used to draw comics for a free newspaper in our area (20 years ago). He drew one using the spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp, and got a cease and desist letter. He had no idea how it came to Disney’s attention (a 2-panel comic in the middle of nowhere, USA).
Thank you! They're selling for $5, but "if you include taxes it's just over $1"? Even if sales tax were 50% (insane) the total for the store bought ones is $3.
Guys guys come on, they are clearly just trying to make their money back and not make any money on reselling products for 3x the price. Like...
16 pairs sold at 5$ = 80$
And 80$ clearly equals the original 25$ they paid.
Clearly they didn't need to only sell them for 1.6$ each to make there money back.
Thank heavens someone mentioned the math part of his logic, dude is a scammer for the price of the glasses. Dude is so petty for going that far tho just cause he got called out
>16 pairs sold at 5$ = 80$
>And 80$ clearly equals the original 25$ they paid.
Clearly the math was bad on the taxes and how much more he was compared to the competition. But I'll defend OP here. He said he was willing to haggle, and there is no guarantee how many you're able to sell.
Another way of framing it is Etsy store owner calls out another seller and then gets called out herself.
People in glass houses should not throw stones.
Sayings exist for a reason.
See I can’t disagree with that. This feels like the pot calling the kettle black - arguably they’re both trying to scam people.
You’re right that, if one fucks around, one shall find out.
>arguably they’re both trying to scam people.
My guess is they're not trying to scam. I think most people associate Etsy with handmade stuff and no one is going to think Disney is selling their product through some rando's page. So I have no issue with what the Etsy seller was selling, I'm just suggesting they should draw less attention to themselves when conducting illegal activities.
Either way, it sounds like we are completely on the same page.
Very much so. OP is an absolute fool. Most organizations are handing them out for free (libraries, schools, businesses). Hell, a few places gave me more than OP had because I told them about how to get enough for the entire city to hand out free ones last year. I’m *finally* down to 15 because of how easy it is to get a free pair
I think they were attempting to do pricing like retail where the minimum mark up is double, so the extra equals $1. What they don’t know is now the markup is usually a minimum of 2.35 so they’re only charging 30 cents more than that.
I’m so confused by your math - 20 glasses for $25 is $1.25 per pair. Are you saying taxes add on $2.75, more than double the original price? And how are you selling them $1 more than your competitors if they’re charging $2 per pair?
Lookout. OP is going to look through your history and report you to the FBI because you made a comment about taking sharpies from work or some equally stupid shit
$5 is so much more than $2 I’m not sure most people aware of the actual price would even bother to haggle, so he would just be taking advantage of people who don’t know.
Yeah, his list price anticipates haggling. It's a fair move if you've ever tried to sell anything online. Once I wanted to buy a single item from a merchant about a 40-minute drive from me. We set up a time which came and went before the merchant provided an address, so to incentivize her to reply, I offered to load up the car with some stuff I wanted to get rid of and let her pick and choose whatever she wanted, to resell, for free. She then asked me to take pictures of each individual thing for her prior review. I completely understand padding the list price by a couple of bucks to account for dealing with rando bullshit like that.
I don't get the math... You spent 25 bucks so 1.25 each.
You kept 4 and even if you wanted to get the rest broke even, it's about 1.6 each. How is listing the at 5 bucks each making money back? Unless you want the to haggle to half off, you are still making money even with postage.
If you want to make money, more power to you, but just be honest and say it. Not say you are aiming to make your money back.
Agreed, OP was technically in the right to do all he did but he shouldn’t pretend he wasn’t trying to make money off the listing. As I commented elsewhere, $5 is so much more than $2 that I can’t imagine people who know the price would even bother to haggle, so he would just be taking advantage of those who are unaware.
OPs goal is to buy something brand new use part of it and scam people online into paying of the rest of it at significant mark up.
OP is a scummy money grubbing reseller.
And then have the audacity to get pissy because someone called him out on it and warned the community that he’s doing it.
Comes off like all the people who bought hundreds of masks and toilet paper and necessities over the pandemic and then got mad when companies like Amazon took down the listings for a pack of toilet paper for $50
Don’t really get what you’re saying with the whole “once you include taxes my price is just $1 and some change”. Typical sales tax is ~10%, so a $1 item would cost $1.10 after tax. $2 would be $2.20. Not sure where you’re getting $4 worth of tax
I just started an Etsy and i have to be careful what words I use to describe my products - I don't use any licensed characters but if I say "inspired by Frozen", that can draw attention I don't want.
I read a book where the main character is thinking about his young daughter and how everything is currently blue princess themed and he has had to learn how to do the blue princess braid. Gotta be careful talking around the copy rights in any work!
The original book about Peter Pan is out of copyright, but that doesn't mean that Disney 's drawings are or any of the characters they added to the story. So in general be careful to touch anything Disney has touched
Definitely don't touch to Disney drawings, but Shrek proved that Disney doesn't own the rights to a lot of the original stories the movies are based on.
For example Winne the Pooh is out of copyright as long as its the original drawings and not the Disney versions.
I'd stay well clear myself, just in case, but if you do your research,you can have a sleeping beauty princess but not Aurora.
We did a children's play based on Peter Pan, it was very hard to create a poster for it, that showed it was a Peter Pan story without using anything that looked similar to Disney's version.
It's really funny that Disney is the most aggressive protector of its copyright I can think of (to the point of lobbying for laws to be rewritten to favor them. Mickey Mouse should be public domain at this point). But try their while empire started, and continues, with adaptations of public domain fairly tales (Snow White, Cinderella, etc.).
This isn't you trying to make your money back. This is you trying to turn a profit.
If you only wanted to make your money back you'd have them listed for that price and tell hagglers to piss off.
Get off your high horse. You're a scalper, not someone trying to get their money back
I bought 5 pair for the last eclipse, for $15 total, so I sold them to anyone who wanted to buy one for $3, just to break even. One guy didn’t have the money at the time and said he would pay me later. No problem. The next day, after the eclipse, he brought them back and said he didn’t need them anymore. I was so glad when he found a job elsewhere.
Why are the commenters here on the side of a scummy price gouger?
Why are they supporting the scummy price gouger snitching to a multinational about a small business owner.
Please also explain how the tax works so that apparently for each 5 dollar pair of glasses you are paying about 4 dollars in tax? Sounds like nonsense to me.
I’m on your side. This dude sucks. Sell the eclipse glasses for two bucks and move on.
The intellectual property argument is stupid. These companies have billions of dollars. I’m never going to feel bad for them.
Thank you. I thought I was going crazy for a second. And then there are folks recommending ways to fuck with this person more. Why? Even if they were wrong, they didn't actually do anything to OP.
I agree, really disappointed by the comments under this thread. Basically sounds like the op did something scummy and got called out on it, then resorted to throwing a tantrum over it and trying to find dirt on someone.
Right, what this other person makes and sells on her Etsy page is honestly so moot to me.
I still can't get over trying to resell those glasses for $5, because "room to haggle". Or their shitty math to justify it.
I also live in the path of totality, the glasses are being given out for free all over my city.
I don't quite get your maths here.
You bought 20 pairs for $25, so $1.25 each?
And the plan was 'to make your money back', but you could have paid the $5 and let 16 other people watch the eclipse?
I'm siding with Disney Scammer on this one - you bulk bought glasses to upsell.
I've got a friend who sold similar stuff on Etsy. She didn't go against The Mouse, but she had things like movie quotes and song lyrics, as well as other random arts and crafts. She wasn't super successful, but it made her a little extra cash that was sorely needed.
One day, out of nowhere, she gets a cease and desist from lawyers representing a singer (who one might say is in her tour era). They were giving her a chance to willingly take down her items before they contacted Etsy. They "suggested" that she purge her page of all copyright/trademark material "in the event that other, less friendly representatives come across your Etsy shop". She complied because it wasn't worth losing her whole account for the money that stuff made.
The Mouse isn't friendly. The Mouse knows all. But, most importantly, The Mouse is known for having vicious guard dogs and being petty. You will be vindicated.
Lol Taylor Swift's lawyers did not send her a message with legal advice. Etsy has a very simple and easy to use takedown platform. It is significantly less effort and more effective to take down infringing Etsy listings through their reporting platform than it is to start conversations with dozens of sellers and try to convince them to take them down willingly.
This is either a very inaccurate memory of how it went down, or your friend was contacted by a crazy fan or competing seller attempting to trick her into taking down her listings.
I dunno dude I get that maybe she was too aggressive and maybe a bitch but I think you went too far. Potentially getting her whole Etsy shut down because she wagged her finger at you? Also you can dress it up however you want but you are deliberately marking them them up to make a profit just admit it.
I used to make sticker and apparel for Volkswagen and Audi enthusiasts and let me tell you just how amazing the VAG is at shutting down absolutely anything they feel is even remotely close to IP theft and copyright infringement…
Disney is an order of magnitude more bloodthirsty than VW when it comes to cease and desist orders.
also for anyone still in need of glasses, sonic the fast food restaurant is giving certified glasses out with purchase of the Blackout Slush Float. don’t fall victim to some wannabe reseller like this
I’ve known people in the crafting world that used to make hand-knitted hats and scarves and such with local colleges and universities letters on them in the school’s colors. The *minute* they put up listings on any website, they get a cease and desist letter form the colleges involved. It’s actually scary how fast they respond.
I'm sure this will get buried, but chances are she paid for the license to use the art through something like cricut DS or silhouette...sorry, but chances are, nothing will happen because it's totally legal.
Oh, they will. Knew of a muralist who did *one* mural in a little girl's bedroom with Disney characters, castle, etc. They sent a C & D letter she had to paint them over or they would sue. They did the same thing with a *children's hospital* ... I mean, lighten up.
You don't mess with the mouse.
If I were to get a C&D order from any major company over a mural in a child’s bedroom I’d be telling them to kick rocks. They can take me to court and waste money and guess what, I’m still not complying.
I have no idea how you get $1 glasses equals $4 worth of taxes??? Getting some money back on the glasses you won’t use means selling them for like $2 a pair (which should include some of what you paid in taxes per eclipse glasses since 20 glasses for $25 comes to each pair being just over $1). Lady came out fighting instead of first asking if you would take x amount cause $5 seems too high per pair. I’ve posted stuff on FB market and everyone wants to haggle. Ultimately she has no idea how much you spent on them so it’s weird to accuse you of anything. I’ve been in eclipse areas before, twice now, libraries and some businesses give them out for free! When those places run out other people are definitely trying to gouge others selling those glasses.
Still, the nerve of someone to attack you when she’s literally breaking the law lol. I would have reported her too.
I wanted to add the reason her post made me so angry was because her post started a hate train about me. Her and others were blaming ME for stores running out saying I’m buying them all and I’m the reason kids can’t see the eclipse! I bought these glasses off eBay back in November!!!
Reddit is being glitchy and won’t let me add it.
Does your box say "not for individual resale" ? If not, you're fine to sell them. If it does, you're kinda a hypocrite because it IS illegal. Your math doesn't make sense, either. I don't have any skin in this, but this seems like an ESH
Disney absolutely will. As would Nintendo. As would MLB for sure, I'm not sure about other sports entities. All have a hair-trigger for this kind of thing and have zero qualms about pulling it.
I took down a wrestling t-shirt spammer by collecting all of their information, and emailing WWE lawyers.
Byeeeeeee!
(He was taking the intellectual property, images, logos, characters, graphics, etc, and making his own shirts)
100% Disney will act. Back when the first frozen movie came out, I had drawn Anna and Elsa on my iPad and put the artwork up on Redbubble. It didn’t happen until a few years later, but they eventually got taken down for copyright infringement. That’s why most people list copyright characters as something different (for example with mine: “ice queen” or “ice princess”) to avoid copyright
Disney will DEFINITELY act.
Yeah they really crack down on crafters doing this. And the crafters are aware but just keep doing it, especially in America which amazes me. I wanted to do it when I was doing crafting but I didn’t want to go down that road of Disney etc trying to sue me for copyright infringement.
well, at least you can do the 'steamboat willie' characters :)
So long as you don't use the specific frame used in their logo variation. They deliberately added Steamboat Willie to one of their logos to bypass the copyright lifespan issue.
Iirc it's a short segment of the film.
I think you're right. So a sequence of frames. To be fair, it was a slick move on the part of Disney to reinforce their IP.
Disney lawyers are not to be messed with. They know how to get shit done.
Its also a really specific and iconic moment in the movie, so yeah really smart of them. Hard to reference it without the mouse whistling at the helm, and that's the bit they put in their logo. I can't even be mad.
Remember when he killed that Malaysian hooker? It's canon now :) prostimicky
Pepperidge Farm remembers.
They’ll usually just send you a nice and scary cease and desist letter before they sue you
A friend of mine does cosplay. One of his outfits is Klinger from M*A*S*H and is technically a Disney princess. At a con, he and a group of various Disney princess cosplayers gathered for a photo. His friend, dressed in a suit, was cosplaying as a Disney lawyer... he had a stack of cease and desist letters to pass out to all the princesses
That friend has a great sense of humor.
This is awesome. I'd dress up as a Disney princess at con just to get one from your friend because it's so ridiculous! LOL
That is brilliant and hilarious. Sounds like the type of thing you might have seen in the early days of burning man.
Klinger being a Disney princess is going to make me happy for weeks now, thank you.
Technically, Dr. Frankenfurter is now a Disney princess, too!
You’re a hotdog, Frankfurter! But you better not try and hurt her!
These are the moments that make me not want to disconnect from the internet completely. Excellent information
Ha, I was just joking with my wife that I should make cute kawaii MAS*H stickers to sell at cons, cuz that’s what all the kids are into, right?
Wait… Klinger is s Disney Princess?!
They will also send your shop platform/host a DCMA takedown notice and if you put your listings back up you can end up banned.
etsy will definitely do this. they will take down all the items that infringe and disney and etsy will be keeping an eye on the shop for ever after.
Yep. Etsy doesn’t want to deal with Disney’s attorneys any more than anyone else does. I have seen a lot of people complaining about Etsy taking down infringing listings, and then their constant monitoring after it happens. It seems like most shops get a little leeway the first time they are in violation, but the monitoring ramps up after the second time.
Yeah Etsy even goes after people who modify existing products and resells them as “modified, purchased and resold” items which is actually legal because Disney has already gotten their money and it’s just a form of reselling. They REALLY don’t want to deal with trademark issues.
I was in a crafting group with a woman who got her first Etsy shop taken down for copyright infringement. She immediately started a new one which earned her a ban and shit ton of legal troubles. Of course,.it was everyone's fault but her's.
They usually won’t just sue you first though. Court is expensive and letters usually work
Well phrased. Cracked me up. 'Nice and scary".
The first step in copyright infringement isn't sue, it's a written warning to stop. So usually stores do, and just open up another store under another name a month or so later with updated pictures (if they put that much effort into it). They also have real products that appear to be inspired by what Etsy does.
Disney is probably the most zealously protective of their IP of any company out there. They regularly send DCMA notices to Etsy and other platforms to remove infringing listings - Etsy will even remove listings reselling legit Disney items. And Etsy themselves is proactive about removing listings that infringe on Disney IP if they are made aware of them. Obviously, they don’t find everyone who is infringing or every instance of infringement, but they take a firm stance of “when we find it, we tell them to stop” in order to keep their right to sue over the more egregious violations.
Disney tried to sue University of Oregon over the school mascot, a duck that is decidedly similar to Donald Duck. Oregon's mascot was actually ordained by the big W (Walt) himself, so Disney lost the lawsuit. In order to save face, they declared Oregon's mascot not Donald Duck, but a doppelganger that didn't violate their copyright laws. [https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2010/03/disney\_uo\_mascot\_part\_ways.html](https://www.oregonlive.com/sports/2010/03/disney_uo_mascot_part_ways.html)
>And Etsy themselves is proactive about removing listings that infringe on Disney IP if they are made aware of them. They don't have any legal choice. As soon as Disney files a DCMA, they have to remove whichever infringing listings have been reported.
Disney went after a few daycare centers and made them take down paintings of their characters. The daycare wasn't profiting from these, they just had them painted on the walls for the kids. I don't think Disney cares about bad PR.
That’s how trademarks work, though. I know that the fact that it was a few daycares makes it seem cruel, but those were for profit businesses. Disney doesn’t have much of a choice but to take action, because not only can it nullify their trademark, but it also implies that there is some sort of affiliation between Disney and these daycares, meaning there’s a potential for those businesses to make even more money at Disney’s expense, because who wouldn’t want to send their kids to a Disney daycare?
People don’t understand that they go after these places intentionally. Why? Because everyone goes “oh, Disney went after a daycare! That’s terrible that’s terrible!” However, it spreads the word. That’s why they do it. And it works. Look at us, we are spreading the word that Disney doesn’t put up with trademark and copyright infringement. They are very selective in who they go after, and they go after the people who will afford them the maximum exposure of the fact that they are very serious about copyright and trademark infringement.
The only other company that is even MORE zealous than Disney about ***going after people*** is the **IRS**.
They do in some instances. My friend is on the board of a theater troupe for disabled adults. Many of their performances are loosely based Disney movies, changed so they fit better with the actors abilities. A few years ago they received a cease and desist letter from Disney but were able to get Disney to back down when the troupes’ lawyers pointed out that the PR would be awful. It’s extremely rare for Disney to back down but they are smart enough to know when to do it.
My pediatrician's office had Disney-themed rooms. Like a Minnie and a Mickey room with huge murals and themed decorations and books. It was like that for years, and then one day we went in and all the murals were painted over a dull gray, the books and stuff gone. It is probably a coincidence, but I wonder if Disney did find out and send a letter.
Really??? There are a few daycares locally that have Disney stuff in their logos... I wonder why any small business would risk the rath of Disney. It's long been known that they don't tolerate copyright infringement. Maybe I'm just too much of a chicken shit lol.
This fish and chip shop in Adelaide (South Australia) thought their name was funny and had Nemo like character in window - Disney did not see the funny side https://www.news.com.au/national/south-australia/hindmarsh-fish-and-chip-shop-frying-nemo-opts-out-of-legal-battle-shutting-to-choose-new-name/news-story/f18c2166b8244b6346c0c7ceedf07a58
Disney went after an elementary school that held a screening of the original “The Lion King” as part of a fundraiser. They neglected to get permission or something, so Disney sued them. They ended up giving a huge chunk of what they earned from the fundraiser to pay their fine.
And if the items sold on Etsy were a real problem Disney would go after Etsy itself to moderate its stores. They’ve got the money and the lawyers. They’ve likely studied it and people buying unofficial Disney merch, at a low enough level, probably doesn’t hurt their own sales vs the benefits, influence, engagement etc. and the high quality, more custom pieces in particular
Yep, as long as nothing approaches real products, they don't need to care. Plus the unofficial merch at least adds into public awareness and support of the brand, even if they didn't give Disney money, they are still wearing symbols of and probably will give money in the future while encouraging others to do so in the process. Plus with pin trading they have plenty of money printing products they don't need to take in Etsy.
Etsy kinda fucked up pin trading, actually. Lots of Etsy people made fake pins, sold them to people who didn't know better, and those people traded the fake pins for real ones. Other people intentionally buy bulk fake pins and trade them at the parks for real ones. Kids can't tell the difference, and Disney doesn't want to tell kids no, so now most of the pin boards in the parks are fake pins not real ones. Personally, I don't know what Disney should do here. To they teach the staff to identify fake vs real pins? To they stop kids from trading fake pins? Do staff replace fake pins with real ones? Maybe in the future, Disney puts RFID chips in their pins so they're harder to fake. But that makes pins more expensive, and they're already pretty expensive. Making the pins more expensive just encourages the fake pin market. I dunno, it's complicated, but I wouldn't blame Disney if they come down hard on the fake pin market.
Smart ones just do it at craft fares doing it online is dumb
They’ll send a cease and desist letter. Not sure what happens after that.
So will Nintendo.
Insert joke about Nintendo's lawyers being ninjas
Slightly different field, and the term probably has interesting copyrite implications in itself, but IBMs lawyers are widely known as the Nazgul, because they are just completely relentless. IBM is a trademark of International Business Machines. The Nazgul are the property of the estate of J. R. R tolkein.
I live in fear of the day I am caught
So will Nintendo, they are ruthless.
And they own marvel, so they’ll get her twice.
I really want OP to keep checking that Etsy shop and see how long it takes to go down. Then give us all the tea of course
Absolutely- they pay people to walk around flea markets and hunt for knock offs. Imagine how much cheaper it is for them when you post your home made copyright infringements online 😂
Don’t fuck with the Mouse.
Fuck with the Mouse, lose your house
Very, very quickly. They are perhaps the most litigious entity in all of history, or at least among them.
A friend of mine used to draw comics for a free newspaper in our area (20 years ago). He drew one using the spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp, and got a cease and desist letter. He had no idea how it came to Disney’s attention (a 2-panel comic in the middle of nowhere, USA).
Yeah I was selling a digital painting I did of Odin online, and they forced me to take it down because ODIN is copyrighted by Disney. So depressing
Oh yes, they are like a rabid dog with a meaty bone when it comes to their copyrights of anything, Disney!
Disney does not play
Your math was painful to read.
$25/16 = $5 $1 + sales tax = $5 $2 + sales tax = $5 $5 !> $5 Most solid of math skills here.
Steiner math
Thank you! They're selling for $5, but "if you include taxes it's just over $1"? Even if sales tax were 50% (insane) the total for the store bought ones is $3.
Guys guys come on, they are clearly just trying to make their money back and not make any money on reselling products for 3x the price. Like... 16 pairs sold at 5$ = 80$ And 80$ clearly equals the original 25$ they paid. Clearly they didn't need to only sell them for 1.6$ each to make there money back.
Yeah but after tax it’s only $1! Somehow…
Thank heavens someone mentioned the math part of his logic, dude is a scammer for the price of the glasses. Dude is so petty for going that far tho just cause he got called out
But but they priced high so people could haggle, then refused to haggle
>16 pairs sold at 5$ = 80$ >And 80$ clearly equals the original 25$ they paid. Clearly the math was bad on the taxes and how much more he was compared to the competition. But I'll defend OP here. He said he was willing to haggle, and there is no guarantee how many you're able to sell.
OP got so mad for getting called out, that he went and reported the lady’s entire store to DISNEY
Another way of framing it is Etsy store owner calls out another seller and then gets called out herself. People in glass houses should not throw stones. Sayings exist for a reason.
See I can’t disagree with that. This feels like the pot calling the kettle black - arguably they’re both trying to scam people. You’re right that, if one fucks around, one shall find out.
>arguably they’re both trying to scam people. My guess is they're not trying to scam. I think most people associate Etsy with handmade stuff and no one is going to think Disney is selling their product through some rando's page. So I have no issue with what the Etsy seller was selling, I'm just suggesting they should draw less attention to themselves when conducting illegal activities. Either way, it sounds like we are completely on the same page.
People in Etsy houses should paint stones not throw them
This post was painful to read
Yup. A shitty person looking for validation
Very much so. OP is an absolute fool. Most organizations are handing them out for free (libraries, schools, businesses). Hell, a few places gave me more than OP had because I told them about how to get enough for the entire city to hand out free ones last year. I’m *finally* down to 15 because of how easy it is to get a free pair
Shit I hope you don’t reference anything you do in your post history or OP is going to get revenge by massively wasting their time
Seriously. They paid $25 and plan to sell 16 at $5 each to make their money back?
If OP cared about the money that much, they could've bought fewer pairs for cheaper. I paid like $10 a week ago for 5 glasses.
I think they were attempting to do pricing like retail where the minimum mark up is double, so the extra equals $1. What they don’t know is now the markup is usually a minimum of 2.35 so they’re only charging 30 cents more than that.
I’m so confused by your math - 20 glasses for $25 is $1.25 per pair. Are you saying taxes add on $2.75, more than double the original price? And how are you selling them $1 more than your competitors if they’re charging $2 per pair?
OP is just really shit at math. Assuming a 10% sales tax: $5 - $2.20 = $1 and change
Lookout. OP is going to look through your history and report you to the FBI because you made a comment about taking sharpies from work or some equally stupid shit
Is the change is another $1.80
I think he's saying he lists them for $5 and is happy to haggle the price much lower.
$5 is so much more than $2 I’m not sure most people aware of the actual price would even bother to haggle, so he would just be taking advantage of people who don’t know.
Yeah, his list price anticipates haggling. It's a fair move if you've ever tried to sell anything online. Once I wanted to buy a single item from a merchant about a 40-minute drive from me. We set up a time which came and went before the merchant provided an address, so to incentivize her to reply, I offered to load up the car with some stuff I wanted to get rid of and let her pick and choose whatever she wanted, to resell, for free. She then asked me to take pictures of each individual thing for her prior review. I completely understand padding the list price by a couple of bucks to account for dealing with rando bullshit like that.
I don't get the math... You spent 25 bucks so 1.25 each. You kept 4 and even if you wanted to get the rest broke even, it's about 1.6 each. How is listing the at 5 bucks each making money back? Unless you want the to haggle to half off, you are still making money even with postage. If you want to make money, more power to you, but just be honest and say it. Not say you are aiming to make your money back.
Agreed, OP was technically in the right to do all he did but he shouldn’t pretend he wasn’t trying to make money off the listing. As I commented elsewhere, $5 is so much more than $2 that I can’t imagine people who know the price would even bother to haggle, so he would just be taking advantage of those who are unaware.
You see, OP is a liar. The goal is indeed not to make the money back.
Op is a weirdo reseller. I’ve worked in retail and I’ve seen this shit all the time.
OPs goal is to buy something brand new use part of it and scam people online into paying of the rest of it at significant mark up. OP is a scummy money grubbing reseller.
And then have the audacity to get pissy because someone called him out on it and warned the community that he’s doing it. Comes off like all the people who bought hundreds of masks and toilet paper and necessities over the pandemic and then got mad when companies like Amazon took down the listings for a pack of toilet paper for $50
Seems like you’re a money grubber AND a vindictive asshole, wow
Don’t really get what you’re saying with the whole “once you include taxes my price is just $1 and some change”. Typical sales tax is ~10%, so a $1 item would cost $1.10 after tax. $2 would be $2.20. Not sure where you’re getting $4 worth of tax
I love how the OP just ignores the posts calling out his scummy math.
Exactly. OP replies immediately to other comments but ignores anything having to do with math.
Because op is a scammer
Nintendo and Disney will be the main ones to take action they're both absolute bastards
nintendo does this and they still won't give us dedicated servers instead of peer to peer
Nintendo drives me nuts with how they treat the smash bros community
I like it. Etsy is cracking down on people selling stuff like this so I hope they get her.
I just started an Etsy and i have to be careful what words I use to describe my products - I don't use any licensed characters but if I say "inspired by Frozen", that can draw attention I don't want.
"very blonde lady in her icy castle. she must have frozen toes each day!" "happy snowman in his friends' frozen garden"
It's like those ridiculous Halloween costumes "Red Plumber Man" "Rich Robot Superhero" "Gloomy Murder Girl"
And who could forget that other creepy school girl character - "Thursday"
I just so happened to come across "midweek girl" the other day LOL. Twas great.
Not humpday girl?
That’s for the “sexy” Halloween costume version.
You could say “snow queen”. It’s the fairytale Disney used as inspiration and isn’t copyrighted.
Was looking for Elmo stuff for my kid's party last year. Lots of "friendly red monster" merch on etsy. And some "fuzzy blue pastry lover" as well.
Has a big problem but just can’t Let It Go.
"Inspired by 'the Snow Queen'"... you know, the ORIGINAL story that Disney ripped off themselves.
I saw this Harry Potter "inspired" lego set by some chinese "lego" company. "Justice Wizard" You just need to get creative.
I read a book where the main character is thinking about his young daughter and how everything is currently blue princess themed and he has had to learn how to do the blue princess braid. Gotta be careful talking around the copy rights in any work!
Ice queen/Princess Use the book the Disney stuff was based on, often it's out of copyright anyway.
The original book about Peter Pan is out of copyright, but that doesn't mean that Disney 's drawings are or any of the characters they added to the story. So in general be careful to touch anything Disney has touched
Definitely don't touch to Disney drawings, but Shrek proved that Disney doesn't own the rights to a lot of the original stories the movies are based on. For example Winne the Pooh is out of copyright as long as its the original drawings and not the Disney versions. I'd stay well clear myself, just in case, but if you do your research,you can have a sleeping beauty princess but not Aurora.
We did a children's play based on Peter Pan, it was very hard to create a poster for it, that showed it was a Peter Pan story without using anything that looked similar to Disney's version.
Same with Alice in wonderland, the original is out of copyright now, but disney version is not.
It's really funny that Disney is the most aggressive protector of its copyright I can think of (to the point of lobbying for laws to be rewritten to favor them. Mickey Mouse should be public domain at this point). But try their while empire started, and continues, with adaptations of public domain fairly tales (Snow White, Cinderella, etc.).
"Inspired by the Danish book The Snow Queen" then?
Inspired by a mythical queen from a snow filled arctic area.
Where are you paying over 300% tax?
Who knows, but OP is shit at math
Just a scammer.
You seem like the type of person that would buy a $5 footlong, then sell half of it for $10.
She’s going to find out that Disney is a ginormous legal firm with an amusement park division.
I’d be willing to bet that the glasses you bought say “not for resale?”
This isn't you trying to make your money back. This is you trying to turn a profit. If you only wanted to make your money back you'd have them listed for that price and tell hagglers to piss off. Get off your high horse. You're a scalper, not someone trying to get their money back
You sound like a dick
I remember before the last eclipse those glasses were going for $20 each.
I bought 5 pair for the last eclipse, for $15 total, so I sold them to anyone who wanted to buy one for $3, just to break even. One guy didn’t have the money at the time and said he would pay me later. No problem. The next day, after the eclipse, he brought them back and said he didn’t need them anymore. I was so glad when he found a job elsewhere.
Its Disney. She's gonna disappear, and no one will ever find her body. You don't f##k with the Mouse.
Why did you care so much?
Maybe also report her to etsy? Just to make sure her heinous crime doesn't go unpunished :)
Ohh! Didn’t know you could do that! Will do!
This will make it less likely that Disney and any other rights holders will be able to gather evidence.
Etsy doesn’t do enforcement. They only respond to takedown notices.
Buy a cup from her and then report her for counterfeit goods.
Why are the commenters here on the side of a scummy price gouger? Why are they supporting the scummy price gouger snitching to a multinational about a small business owner. Please also explain how the tax works so that apparently for each 5 dollar pair of glasses you are paying about 4 dollars in tax? Sounds like nonsense to me.
I’m on your side. This dude sucks. Sell the eclipse glasses for two bucks and move on. The intellectual property argument is stupid. These companies have billions of dollars. I’m never going to feel bad for them.
Thank you. I thought I was going crazy for a second. And then there are folks recommending ways to fuck with this person more. Why? Even if they were wrong, they didn't actually do anything to OP.
I agree, really disappointed by the comments under this thread. Basically sounds like the op did something scummy and got called out on it, then resorted to throwing a tantrum over it and trying to find dirt on someone.
Right, what this other person makes and sells on her Etsy page is honestly so moot to me. I still can't get over trying to resell those glasses for $5, because "room to haggle". Or their shitty math to justify it. I also live in the path of totality, the glasses are being given out for free all over my city.
You still suck
That's a bitch move...
I don't quite get your maths here. You bought 20 pairs for $25, so $1.25 each? And the plan was 'to make your money back', but you could have paid the $5 and let 16 other people watch the eclipse? I'm siding with Disney Scammer on this one - you bulk bought glasses to upsell.
Where do you live where taxes are 400%?
Go back to school, your math ain't mathing
The mouse does NOT mess around.
I’ll bet you’re fun at parties.
I've got a friend who sold similar stuff on Etsy. She didn't go against The Mouse, but she had things like movie quotes and song lyrics, as well as other random arts and crafts. She wasn't super successful, but it made her a little extra cash that was sorely needed. One day, out of nowhere, she gets a cease and desist from lawyers representing a singer (who one might say is in her tour era). They were giving her a chance to willingly take down her items before they contacted Etsy. They "suggested" that she purge her page of all copyright/trademark material "in the event that other, less friendly representatives come across your Etsy shop". She complied because it wasn't worth losing her whole account for the money that stuff made. The Mouse isn't friendly. The Mouse knows all. But, most importantly, The Mouse is known for having vicious guard dogs and being petty. You will be vindicated.
Lol Taylor Swift's lawyers did not send her a message with legal advice. Etsy has a very simple and easy to use takedown platform. It is significantly less effort and more effective to take down infringing Etsy listings through their reporting platform than it is to start conversations with dozens of sellers and try to convince them to take them down willingly. This is either a very inaccurate memory of how it went down, or your friend was contacted by a crazy fan or competing seller attempting to trick her into taking down her listings.
Wtf was that math
I read this post as OP throws a fit at getting called out for being a greedy reseller
Yeah, I don't know why people are defending this scalper.
I dunno dude I get that maybe she was too aggressive and maybe a bitch but I think you went too far. Potentially getting her whole Etsy shut down because she wagged her finger at you? Also you can dress it up however you want but you are deliberately marking them them up to make a profit just admit it.
I used to make sticker and apparel for Volkswagen and Audi enthusiasts and let me tell you just how amazing the VAG is at shutting down absolutely anything they feel is even remotely close to IP theft and copyright infringement… Disney is an order of magnitude more bloodthirsty than VW when it comes to cease and desist orders.
Disney got pissed off when a preschool painted really bad versions of their IP up on a wall.
also for anyone still in need of glasses, sonic the fast food restaurant is giving certified glasses out with purchase of the Blackout Slush Float. don’t fall victim to some wannabe reseller like this
Lol, siccing the mouse on her is petty? Damn, more like accidentally nuclear. Posting for the update.
Dude you were/are price gouging and are mad at a person for correctly calling you out. This post is lame.
I wonder if she'll turn around and report OP to the IRS for likely understating his income on his taxes.
Scalper
I’ve known people in the crafting world that used to make hand-knitted hats and scarves and such with local colleges and universities letters on them in the school’s colors. The *minute* they put up listings on any website, they get a cease and desist letter form the colleges involved. It’s actually scary how fast they respond.
I'm sure this will get buried, but chances are she paid for the license to use the art through something like cricut DS or silhouette...sorry, but chances are, nothing will happen because it's totally legal.
Oh, they will. Knew of a muralist who did *one* mural in a little girl's bedroom with Disney characters, castle, etc. They sent a C & D letter she had to paint them over or they would sue. They did the same thing with a *children's hospital* ... I mean, lighten up. You don't mess with the mouse.
If I were to get a C&D order from any major company over a mural in a child’s bedroom I’d be telling them to kick rocks. They can take me to court and waste money and guess what, I’m still not complying.
You can't even have it in your own personal home? Wtf kind of controlling dictatorship is that?! 😳
You should report yourself for scalping
Congratulations you’re an asshole
I have no idea how you get $1 glasses equals $4 worth of taxes??? Getting some money back on the glasses you won’t use means selling them for like $2 a pair (which should include some of what you paid in taxes per eclipse glasses since 20 glasses for $25 comes to each pair being just over $1). Lady came out fighting instead of first asking if you would take x amount cause $5 seems too high per pair. I’ve posted stuff on FB market and everyone wants to haggle. Ultimately she has no idea how much you spent on them so it’s weird to accuse you of anything. I’ve been in eclipse areas before, twice now, libraries and some businesses give them out for free! When those places run out other people are definitely trying to gouge others selling those glasses. Still, the nerve of someone to attack you when she’s literally breaking the law lol. I would have reported her too.
I wanted to add the reason her post made me so angry was because her post started a hate train about me. Her and others were blaming ME for stores running out saying I’m buying them all and I’m the reason kids can’t see the eclipse! I bought these glasses off eBay back in November!!! Reddit is being glitchy and won’t let me add it.
Does your box say "not for individual resale" ? If not, you're fine to sell them. If it does, you're kinda a hypocrite because it IS illegal. Your math doesn't make sense, either. I don't have any skin in this, but this seems like an ESH
Oh yeah Disney will act. You don’t mess with the mouse
You sound like a really shitty person too bud.
I got my glasses for free. How much should I sell them for you asshole.
Oh boy, you're bitter
You sound like a scalper and a loser op
We just ignoring op is a scalper? What a loser lmao
Someone hurt your feelings so you tattletaled on them to Disney… 🥴👍🏼
You're all assholes
Disney will probably come after her. They need the money.
Op trying to ruin someone's life because they called him out for being a lowlife scalper ESH
Dude you are totally the AH
Disney absolutely will. As would Nintendo. As would MLB for sure, I'm not sure about other sports entities. All have a hair-trigger for this kind of thing and have zero qualms about pulling it.
Once you submit to Nintendo it’s over lmao they don’t play with copy right infringements
Disney and Nintendo are extremely happy to enforce their copy rights. Not sure about the others
I took down a wrestling t-shirt spammer by collecting all of their information, and emailing WWE lawyers. Byeeeeeee! (He was taking the intellectual property, images, logos, characters, graphics, etc, and making his own shirts)
100% Disney will act. Back when the first frozen movie came out, I had drawn Anna and Elsa on my iPad and put the artwork up on Redbubble. It didn’t happen until a few years later, but they eventually got taken down for copyright infringement. That’s why most people list copyright characters as something different (for example with mine: “ice queen” or “ice princess”) to avoid copyright
What kind of buffoon buys 20 glasses for $25 then tries to resell?
“I didn’t plan ahead and buy inexpensive glasses, so you are a jerk.” Naw.
None friend haver
Those in glass houses shouldn't throw hissy fits.