Company Town : Disney Settlement

Walt Disney Co. announced today that A-1 Animation, a New York animation gallery, and others have agreed to a preliminary injunction barring them from selling or offering for sale unauthorized artwork that infringes on Disney’s copyrights and from representing artwork as an “authentic” Disney product when it is not. The injunction also requires the defendants to turn over to Disney all work in their possession, custody or control that infringes on the Disney copyright.

The actions stems from a suit initiated by Disney in U.S. District Court in New York. The suit--which also names Indie Productions, Toon Publishing Group Ltd. and a number of individuals as defendants--charged that the defendants had offered for sale works with forged signatures and unauthorized tracings of copyrighted drawings, as well as some materials taken from Disney premises without its permission. Disney has never done business with A-1 Animation, the court papers say.