character costumes

[mkt]

Originally posted by Worldphile
Royalties would be one way to get at these guys since the chances of getting at them criminally are nil.

And. You can go after people that use yor logos, copyrights, etc. for royalties even if they didn't license them. I know for a fact that in addition to suing for infringement, the University of Notre Dame does this all the time. They get their cut from whatever revenue the guy using their logos generated.

that would only apply in the case of Bootleg and Counterfeit merchandise... this is stolen merchandise we are talking about. And not even merchandise, given the fact that it isn't something that Disney manufactures to sell. This is Stolen Property

 

[Worldphile]

Originally posted by mktiggerman


that would only apply in the case of Bootleg and Counterfeit merchandise... this is stolen merchandise we are talking about. And not even merchandise, given the fact that it isn't something that Disney manufactures to sell. This is Stolen Property

*shrugs again*

Ok, so don't go after them for royalties. You still need to prove that these were in fact stolen (how are old costumes handled, has a costume ever been donated to a museum, accidentally thrown in the garbage, lost by a CM, etc). You may believe them stolen, but to file charges, you need to prove that they were actually stolen and reported as such at the time they went missing. And it needs to have occurred within the statute of limitaitons.

Remember, this guy is innocent until proven guilty and the burden of proof is on the States Attorney.

Then, you need to convince the State's Attorney to prosecute a 15-20 year old property crime.

Good Luck.

I stand by my original post. No one is going to prison over this.

 

[mkt]

Originally posted by Worldphile
Ok, so don't go after them for royalties. You still need to prove that these were in fact stolen (how are old costumes handled, has a costume ever been donated to a museum, accidentally thrown in the garbage, lost by a CM, etc). You may believe them stolen, but to file charges, you need to prove that they were actually stolen and reported as such at the time they went missing. And it needs to have occurred within the statute of limitaitons.

Costumes are cleaned internally, or by 1 authorized dry cleaner, which cleans exclusively theme park character and entertainment costumes. Disney does not donate this sort of thing, and the only ones of that age still around are in their archives. When they dispose of something, it is destroyed altogether. And there's no way that would be lost by a CM since it isn't allowed off-property except for special events, and even so.. something that big isn't easy to lose. If you had any idea how strictly Disney watches over character costumes, you'd see that the only way to get this out is to steal it. If something turns up missing in an outside laundry, it would be under inventory as such. I'll bet that if Disney runs the serials off the costume pieces (written ones work), they'll turn up somewhere as missing

 

[Toonfinder]

I'm starting to hear that Disney actually has an of-propery warehouse in the New york area... I know that DLR has one out here too and it is not too conspicuous either. It blatantly reads "Disney character Costumes" on the side of the building. Don't know the kind of security they might have there... but if indeed these were stored somewhere else besides WDW then it's a lot easier to get hold of them.

But there's still the explanation of how these people/this person got hold of them in the first place... stolen, yes... that's not in dispute. How they were stolen in the first place would be my primary focus... prosecution can come later after all the facts are gathered.

 

[mkt]

i know that the off property ones near theme parks are for storage for the theme parks, but the NYC ones are for NYC area events. I know they had (not anymore) one in Chicago, and they have 1 in Mexico City, London, and San Juan... I don't know of any other cities