‘Alice through the Looking Glass’ trade mark dispute

‘Alice Looking’ the well known boutique has made a complaint against Disney for the use of the trade mark ‘Alice through the looking glass. ’ ‘Alice looking’ is a boutique which sells products themed by the famous Lewis Carol book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The boutique uses for several of its products the trademarked phrase ‘Alice through the looking glass’, therefore according to their claim the customers are likely to confuse the origin of their products and connect them to Disney’s and vice versa.   

The two parties met in order to find a solution (January 2015) and a proposition was made by Disney to co-exist and market each other’s products. The boutique’s representatives are claiming that instead of doing that Disney just wanted to advertise its movie to the boutique’s clients. In the meantime Disney tried to register the phrase as a trade mark for its own products but failed to do so. In May, 2016 right before the sequel of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was released Disney started selling products with the boutique’s mark. 

The complaint was filed on the 11th of January 2017. The claimants are aiming to get an injunction relief, an account of profits and damages as a result of the trial.

By Dimitra Angelopoulou