Walt Disney World “The Happiest Place on Earth” may have some competition with Wanda City in China. Wanda City spans over 2 square kilometers, it features a theme park, a movie park, an aquarium, hotels and retail stores. Not only is it trying to unseat Disney as the world’s largest tourism operation it is also being accused of stealing popular Disney characters. Snow White and Captain America have been spotted around Wanda City posing for pictures with guests and Disney is prepared to take action. “We vigorously protect our intellectual property and will take action to address infringement” Disney said in an emailed statement. They went on to say “our characters and stories have delighted generations, these illegal and substandard imitations unfortunately disappoint all who expect more.”
In a statement issued Monday the 30th of May, Wanda City said “the non-Wanda characters were operated by individual stores within Wanda Mall. They do not represent Wanda”. Via Law Corp. director Wang Yingyu, said “There’s more than a passing similarity between the costumes seen at Wanda’s park and designs registered by Disney. Legally, the bottom line is that the owner of a space is responsible for infringement that has occurred, unless they argue that they cannot exercise control over their tenants — which would require thorough proof that they have done all they can to control the situation.”
According to Yingyu “The issue in China has always been that damages awarded for infringement are generally not high,”. As of right now Disney has not proceeded with legal action but they might want to as a matter of principle to dissuade other potential infringers.
With China’s estimated $610 billion dollar tourism industry, which is expected to double by 2020, the rivalry between Walt Disney Co. and Wanda Group Co. may just be getting started.