Walt Disney Productions v. The Air Pirates

This case involves the admitted copying of plaintiff Walt Disney Productions’ (“Disney”) cartoon characters in defendants’ adult “counter-culture” comic books. The present defendants are three individuals and two business entities operated by them. The complaint alleges that they infringed Disney copyrights, a Disney trademark and engaged in unfair competition, trade disparagement and interference with Disney’s business. Disney sought in-junctive relief, destruction of infringing materials, damages, costs and attorney’s fees.

The district court awarded Disney a temporary restraining order and subsequently granted its motion for a preliminary injunction, simultaneously issuing an opinion re ported in 345 F.Supp. 108 (N.D.Cal.1972). As Judge Wollenberg noted in his opinion, the basic facts are undisputed. He found as follows (at 109-110):

Plaintiff holds valid copyrights on the various works noted in the first seven causes of action. The works protected by the copyrights comprise a series of cartoon drawings ranging from a single page to “book length.” The cartoons depict the antics of characters created by plaintiff, with “balloons” over each of the characters’ heads containing…