Walt Disney Co has taken three Chinese firms to court over concerns local animation The Autobots copied elements from Disney’s own hit movie Cars, as the US firm looks to protect its drive into the world’s second-largest economy.
A court in Shanghai held a hearing on Tuesday, a Disney spokeswoman confirmed.
The dispute was over “copyright infringement” and “unfair competition,” according to a notice on the Shanghai Pudong New Area People’s Court Web site.
Disney is making a major push into China with the recent opening of a US$5.5 billion theme park in Shanghai, its first on the mainland, while its animated movies, including Zootopia and Big Hero 6, have been big box office hits in the country.
However, the iconic US firm faces tough competition in the market from local theme park developers, popular Chinese animations and counterfeits from merchandise to fake Disney hotels.
Chinese authorities have promised to give Disney “special” trademark protection.
The Autobots drew ire from netizens in China when it was released last year, with some pointing out similarities with Disney’s 2006 film Cars starring Owen Wilson and its sequel in 2011. Cars 3 is sheduled to be released next year.
Zuo Jianlong (卓建榮), the director of The Autobots for production company Blue MTV (藍火焰影視動漫), said in an interview yesterday he was “relaxed” about a potential ruling.
“Lots of people online have talked about plagiarism, but it seems from the legal side that the matter is quite clear — at root there is no plagiaristic behavior,” he said. “If you put the two films side-by-side to compare them, then you will know they are completely different.”
Disney declined to comment further on the case.
The Chinese film is about animated racing cars, including main heroes K1 and K2, while Disney’s offering follows the story of legendary racing car Lightning McQueen.
The three Chinese firms involved in the suit are production company Blue MTV, media company Beijing G-Point Film Culture Media Co (北京基點影視文化傳媒) and online content platform PPLive Inc (聚力傳媒技術).
An official for Beijing G-Point, who gave her name only as Ms Cheng, said the firms had hoped to reach a settlement, but Disney had been opposed to this.
She added G-Point was not involved in production, but rather in the film’s distribution.
China’s box office hit about 45 billion yuan (US$6.8 billion) last year, and is growing fast, a lure for overseas studios to tap into the market, despite a cap on imported films, censorship concerns and a rising challenge from locally made movies.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS