Rise of the Guardians DreamWorks Animation Continues To Infringe on Others' Intellectual Property
Rise of the Guardians DreamWorks Shark Lawyers Bully Small Businessman and Rightful Rights-Holder.
- Orlando, FL (1888PressRelease) October 03, 2012 - It seems DreamWorks Animation (DWA) is at it again. DWA has been repeatedly accused of taking ideas they feel can make them a profit - without asking permission from the creator(s) (or paying a reasonable royalty for its use). The most glaring and publicized example is the 1998 case of Dreamwerks vs Dreamworks. A brief synopsis: when Dreamworks was founded, a company called Dreamwerks was already in existence. Dreamwerks brought a trademark infringement case against Dreamworks for what they believed was a "confusingly similar" name. The appeals court agreed and ruled that Dreamwerks had common law rights to their name and that plaintiff would be damaged by Dreamworks superior financial power and marketing - essentially ruling that a smaller/senior company can be afforded trademark protection even if against a much larger/newer company.
This time, the idea revolves around DWA's upcoming animated picture "Rise of The Guardians" and its relationship to an earlier creation spawned for purposes of keeping kids safe, "The Guardians", a story of five animated super heroes charged with protecting kids, started as a children's safety game sixteen (16) years ago. Owners of "The Guardians" full common law trademark rights took their game and its characters on the Rosie O'Donnell Show; won awards including the FBI's "safety game of choice" and endorsements from McGruff the Crime Dog. In all, "The Guardians" were featured on board games utilized in schools and churches throughout the nation, on t-shirts and pajamas, and in a live-action picture entitled The Guardians, filmed in 2006 and scheduled for release in 2013, starring the late Ron Palillo. While DWA's Rise of the Guardians characters are not identical to those of "The Guardians", both storylines comprise a 5-member team of animated super heroes who protect children. The creators of first Guardians concept believe that DWA's movie will cause direct confusion to consumers. Because of this confusion, and the financial strength of DWA, retailers may be reluctant to purchase and shelve other products bearing "The Guardians" name.
Creators of "The Guardians" have spent months communicating with DWA regarding this infringement of their common law rights to no avail. DWA has refused every offer to settle even at a below-industry-standard licensing fee. As it has done in countless other intellectual property disputes, DWA maintains that it is not liable for infringement, either on grounds of no confusing similarity in the marks, or that the creators abandoned their common law rights in The Guardians despite being shown evidence that their board games are still available for purchase and additional products are planned following the 2013 release of their own Guardians motion picture. DWA's responses, lead by attorney Christopher Miller, have threatening legal action and financial intimidation to dissuade the creators from pursuing fair enforcement of their common law rights knowing that DWA's strength and financial backing will win out in any such "David vs. Goliath" showdown. The creators of "The Guardians", however, have sworn to continue their fight to protect the property that is rightfully theirs.
Creators of "The Guardians" ask for the public's support and help boycotting DWA's Rise of the Guardians and all related products/merchandise as a show of strength that the "little guy" can not always be pushed around. Please sign the petition here at http://www.boycottguardiansmovie.com/. Even though DWA is infinitely bigger, the intellectual property embodied in "The Guardians" deserves the same strength of protection that DWA has asserted over its own property time and time again. Smaller companies should not be subject to corporate bullying and retaliatory litigation threats if they attempt to assert their rightful claims against infringement.
ABOUT "THE GUARDIANS" - devoted to the cause of children's safety, "The Guardians" characters and board game were developed to teach children to make the right choices.
The creators of "The Guardians" are not representing that DreamWorks Animation has infringed upon The Guardians motion picture with its own animated release, Rise of the Guardians. However, characters from "The Guardians", along with embodiments of those characters on board games, t-shirts, pajama's, videos and other merchandise falling under the common law rights for "The Guardians'" mark, is a direct infringement of said rights and the creators should be afforded the same protection against infringement that DWA demands for its own intellectual property.
Contact:
Ed Howie
ehowie ( @ ) floridelcorp dot com
7515 Waters Ave., C7
Savannah, GA 31406
Ph: 912-484-7958
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