When originally released in Cinemas at the beginning on November 2013, The Legend of Sarila made no real impact. Box office takings were minimal and the animation went arguably unnoticed from the screens. The film told the story of three young Inuits set off in search of a promised land to save their clan from starvation.
This would have been all well and good, but to try and give the film a boost Phase 4 decided to repackage the film as Frozen Land. While the title still reflects the story, the new logo the chose reflected Disney’s block buster Frozen. Although a title can’t be trademarked, the design / logos / branding can be registered as trademarks. This is where DIsney are picking up the case.
The lawsuit further reads,
“As is apparent from the face of the Frozen Land logo, despite the infinite options available to it, Phase 4 intended its logo to replicate the Frozen Trademark Logo of Disney’s Frozen. “For example, the Frozen Land logo also includes jagged, uneven edges on the lettering, dramatic flourishes on the letters, and an elongated R and Z that cradle a stylised O that curves into itself and does not close entirely. In addition, the word ‘frozen’ is significantly larger than the word ‘land.’ The two logos are nearly identical.”
I have to admit I think it’s about time that someone stood up and said something for the main events. The amount of mockbusters that are available in shops prior to the “official” films release is ridiculous. When Cars was a big hit there were a ton of Red racing car DVD releases. Not only does it show lack of creativity, but potentially tricks purchasers into buying the wrong product. With Frozen being such a big hit this year there was a chance of shoppers thinking it was a follow on DVD.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with this case and how it affects the future of poorer quality straight to DVD “copy” animation.