AfterDawn: Tech news

Caterpillar sues Disney over 'evil bulldozers'

Written by Petteri Pyyny @ 17 Oct 2003 3:26 User comments (8)

Caterpillar sues Disney over 'evil bulldozers' Heavy machinery company Caterpillar has sued Disney to block its upcoming DVD cartoon sequel, George of the Jungle 2. Sounds weird? It gets better..
Apparently, according to Caterpillar, Disney uses Caterpillar's trademark without Caterpillar's permission in the movie and the whole movie portrays Caterpillar as an "evil attacking army" that tries to destroy the jungle.

Caterpillar wants to block the U.S. release of the movie, wants Disney to modify the movie in order to remove any links between the movie and Caterpillars and re-release the movie after those modifications have been done. Disney claims that movie has been released already in 12 countries outside U.S. and they haven't heard any single complain about the Caterpillar issue.

According to Disney, company has already sent out 2.2 million copies to over 35,000 retailers in the U.S. and recalling those copies would cost over a million dollars, plus an additional 9 million dollars for already-spent marketing dollars.



Chief U.S. District Judge Joe B. McDade is going to make his decision before movie's U.S. premiere on next week.

More information:

AP/Miami Herald
SFGate.com

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8 user comments

117.10.2003 21:03

Hmmmmmmm.... what if they had stenciled "AfterDawn" over the 'Caterpillar' name instead? Folks wouldn't (really) get the impression you were 'evil', and just think of the Free Promotion! (Why not call 'em up and make 'em a free offer?)

218.10.2003 03:52

Serves Disney right. I think they should be recalled and re-released. If you think about it, Caterpillar make a lot of boots. Maybe the younger children who watch may not purchase caterpillar clothing products in the future, be it a conscious or subconscious decision on their behalf. If it portrays them as 'evil' and it was used without their permission, then sue the buggers. :-D

318.10.2003 13:26

Disney should have seen that before sending the movie out. This is something like negative advertisment.

418.10.2003 14:14

Heheh.. Somehow I doubt they are worried about boot sales.. *Hint: Actual caterpillars and notions about destroying forests..*

518.10.2003 18:17

I hope that Catepillar takes them all the way on this one. They could have at least made it into similar name or spelled it differently. Kinda like 5h1t or @$$. Disney releases too many sequals. Perhaps Disney might start releasing new material instead of remakes of their already existing movies once they loose millions from this film. Do we really need a George of the Jungle 2? How far will they go? The Little Mermaid VII? Sorry about the off subject rant, but Disney sequals really annoy me.

620.10.2003 09:13

Oriphus - I dont know man, when i was little if I could have got an evil set of boots, i probably would have. actually i might go buy me a set of cat boots after work today, only if they have the satanic dark overlord model in stock though. I hear the lucifer lightweights are rugged and feels as light as a sneaker though.

720.10.2003 09:34

lol - Darthnip you are scaring me now. I've got a mental image of you all in black with long black hari, big black super kick up the arse boots and dead skulls pissing blood from their head on your t-shirt. Ooohh....

820.10.2003 14:11

hahaha, close man, but i cut all my hair off a long time ago. :)

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