Trio sentenced for knockoff Disney cases

Three people received sentences of up to three years imprisonment and fines of up to 80,000 yuan (US$11,700) each by Shanghai No.3 Intermediate People’s Court yesterday, for infringing the copyright of the Walt Disney Corporation.

From December 2015, the convicts surnamed Chen, Sun and Xu were found to have produced almost 3,000 children’s trolley cases, decorated with cartoon figures that the court found to be “substantially similar” to the characters Elsa, Anna and Olaf from the Disney film “Frozen.”

Nearly 2,900 of the cases were sold online via platforms like taobao.com and tmall.com. The remainder were seized when police raided Chen’s property in June last year.

Chen initially commissioned Sun to produce the cases. Sun subsequently engaged Xu who manages a Shanghai-based luggage manufacturer.

Chen and Sun confessed to the facts of the case, with Chen agreeing to pay a fine of 80,000 yuan (US$11,700), before going to court. Xu turned himself in.

Along with the fine, Chen was sentenced to three years in prison with a five-year reprieve. 

Sun was sentenced to three years with a five-year reprieve and fined 60,000 yuan. 

Xu was given a sentence of 18 months in prison with an 18-month reprieve and fined 5,000 yuan.