Hell's Angels seek fight with… Walt Disney!

[Bob]

File this under: You couldn’t make it up.

The Hell’s Angel Motorcycle Corporation (so much for their status as a “simple motorcycle club”), is suing Buena Vista Pictures – a division of Walt Disney – for infringing on their trademark!

The legal rumble is all over a new film, “Wild Hogs”, a comedy about middle-aged bikers, which is being produced by Buena Vista and starring Tim Allen, John Travolta and Martin Lawrence.

The Angels claim that it it never approved Walt Disney Motion Picture Group's use of its trademark, and that the film studio has repeatedly exploited the Hell's Angels name as well as its trademark design featuring a helmeted, horned and feathered skull while publicizing the "Wild Hogs" movie.

Publicity has repeatedly referred to the film as “A movie about a "group of middle-aged wannabe bikers look(ing) for adventure out on the open road, where they soon encounter a chapter of the Hell's Angels” according to the lawsuit.

A Disney spokesperson was not immediately available for comment. However, expect Pluto to pee on their tyres when no-one is looking and Chip ‘n’ Dale to put nuts up their exhaust pipes…

[froggyfrenchman]

Dosn't suprise me in the slightest. On an international scale, the 'Angels' are more a corperation than a club/gang. Read a book... The life and times of Sonny Barger, very interesting. And thats coming from a dedicated sprotsbike rider that has never had any intrest in that scene. It is a tale of how the angels started and spread round the globe.

Take a moment to consider if the wheels were turned here... Walt Disney are famous for sending the lawyers around... They protect their trademarks globaly with great eficenty. Aman opened a small workshop in Waipawa 10 years back called "mickey mouse motors". Disney's lawyers were there within a fortnight, threatning to shut him down. My memory may be playing tricks here, but im pretty sure that "Eagle boys pizza" Was "Beagle boys pizza" for just a couple of weeks when they first opened.

Oh my, what a world we live in. I would like to end this with a clever quote, but due to international copyright laws, i am forbidden to do so.