People costumed as Snow White and Captain America at a new Chinese theme park have the Walt Disney Co. vowing to take action against the park’s parent company.
Look-alikes of the popular Disney characters were spotted at the official opening of the $3.2 billion Wanda City park complex in Nanchang, the first of a string of planned themed parks that billionaire Wang Jianlin hopes will eventually displace Disney as the world’s largest tourism operator.
In response to inquires about how it will respond, Disney said it is preparing to take action to protect its brand.
“We vigorously protect our intellectual property and will take action to address infringement,” the company said in a written statement. “Our characters and stories have delighted generations, these illegal and substandard imitations unfortunately disappoint all who expect more.”
Opened on Saturday, the first Wanda City theme park features a rides, a movie park, an aquarium, hotels and retail stores. In a non-ticketed area of the complex, people dressed as Snow White and Captain America were posing for photos with visitors. Stuffed animals resembling Kung Fu Panda, a character owned by DreamWorks, were also spotted.
Wanda said the characters were operated by individual stores with the Wanda Mall and don’t represent the company. The company didn’t respond to Disney’s statement that it would protect its intellectual property.
Disney and Jianlin have already clashed, with Disney recently, refusing to respond to a claim by Jianlin that its new Shanghai Disney Resort set to open next month will be no match for his new theme parks, or, “pack of wolves.”
