ARTICLE · 21 APRIL 2015

Copyright Infringement – ‘Access’ And Probative Similarity

Smith Gambrell & Russell

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Kelly Wilson filed a lawsuit against Disney in March 2014 claiming that a marketing trailer for "Frozen" directly infringed her copyrighted short film, The Snowman.

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Kelly Wilson filed a lawsuit against Disney in March 2014 claiming that a marketing trailer for "Frozen" directly infringed her copyrighted short film, The Snowman. Wilson's complaint states that she created The Snowman between 2008 and 2010 and that the short was screened at eight film festivals. One of those screenings was at the San Francisco International Film Festival in 2011, where she shared the stage with an employee of Disney's Pixar Animation Studios, which was also screening a film in the same session.

In our August 14, 2014 edition of SGR's Intellectual Property Brain Trust we reported that United States District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California had denied the Walt Disney Company's motion to dismiss the claim that the Frozen teaser trailer infringes upon Kelly Wilson's copyright in her animated short film. As reported in one of the stories that we bring to you this week, 'Frozen': Disney at Risk of Jury Trial over Copyright

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