Disney applies to trademark "God"

Well, not really, but surely it is on the corporate agenda. 

Disney has, however, applied to trademark  Princess Aurora,  the principal character in many stage, ballet, book, and movie versions of Sleeping Beauty.  

This is such a ridiculous, over-reaching effort on the part of an unruly conglomerate to grab, monopolize, and illegitimately profit from the use of a character that has been in the public domain since long before Disney ever drew its first pair of mouse ears.   Charles Perrault identified L’Aurore as one of the princess daughters of his Sleeping Beauty character in 1697.  When Disney put together its cartoon in 1959, it applied the name Princess Aurora to Sleeping Beauty, borrowed liberally from Tchaikovsky’s score for the animated film’s music and lifted the name “Briar Rose” from the Brothers Grimm 1812 version of the story for use in the film.

Does Disney pay out fees to representatives of Perrault, Tchaikovsky or the Brothers Grimm every time it runs the cartoon?   Doubtful.   But Disney sure wants to be able to collect every time any ballet company performs Sleeping Beauty and utilizes the name Princess Aurora.

The trademark application number is 77130191 .  If you’re eagerly seeking frustration, you can muddle through the United States Patent and Trademark Office website and file a letter of protest.  One has to fumble through a lot of NEXT, NEXT, NEXTs and answer questions like "Your Title" for which Haglund entered "Ordinary Citizen."  Apparently, there are fees that should be paid, but somehow, the system accepted Haglund’s protest without the fee.  Just keep pressing NEXT and keep wondering what next, Disney?

Comments

[Beki]

Thanks, I submitted a protest as well. I used the information in the second paragraph of your post and also ABT's production information—they used the name before Disney.

[Haglund's Heel]

Excellent, Beki!

While it could possibly be too late to have much impact on Disney's application, it could turn into a public relations nightmare for them if they follow through and try to license "Princess Aurora" to any ballet company that presents Sleeping Beauty.

- Haglund