California
Disney sues Hong Kong company it says is selling illegal Mickey Mouse jewelry
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday sued a Hong Kong jewelry company it accuses of selling illegal Mickey Mouse jewelry.
The international media and entertainment conglomerate filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles against the Red Earth Group, which sells jewelry online under the name Satéur.
Disney says the marketing and branding of the rings, necklaces and earrings in Satéur’s “Mickey 1928 Collection” violate its trademark rights and that the Hong Kong company is deliberately trying to fool customers into thinking the pieces are official Disney merchandise.
Satéur, the suit alleges, “intends to present Mickey Mouse as its own brand identifier for its jewelry merchandise and “seeks to trade on the recognizability of the Mickey Mouse trademarks and consumers’ affinity for Disney and its iconic ambassador Mickey Mouse.”
A message seeking comment from representatives of the Red Earth Group was not immediately answered.
The lawsuit is indicative of Disney’s dogged efforts to protect its intellectual property from unauthorized appropriation. Although the earliest version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain last year after Disney’s copyright expired, the company still holds trademark rights to the character.
Lawyers for Disney argue in the suit that Red Earth’s online marketing efforts “extensively trade on the Mickey Mouse trademarks and the Disney brand” with language that includes describing the jewelry as great for “Disney enthusiasts.”
Such tactics indicate Red Earth was “intentionally trying to confuse consumers,” the lawsuit says. The impression created, it says, “suggests, at a minimum, a partnership or collaboration with Disney.”
The earliest depiction of Mickey Mouse, who first appeared publicly in the film short “Steamboat Willie” in 1928, are now in the U.S. public domain. The widely publicized moment was considered a landmark in iconography going public.
The lawsuit alleges that Red Earth and Satéur are trying to use that status as a “ruse” to suggest the jewelry is legal, by dubbing it the “Mickey 1928 Collection” and saying it is being sold in tribute to the mouse’s first appearance.
The centerpiece of the collection, the suit says, is a piece of jewelry marketed as the “Satéur Mickey 1928 Classique Ring,” which has a Steamboat Willie charm sitting on the band holding a synthetic stone.
But there is an essential difference between copyright — which protects works of art — and trademark — which protects a company’s brand.
Even if a character is in the public domain, it cannot be used on merchandise in a way that suggests it is from the company with the trademark, as Disney alleges Red Earth is doing.
“Disney remains committed to guarding against unlawful trademark infringement and protecting consumers from confusion caused by unauthorized uses of Mickey Mouse and our other iconic characters,” Disney said in a statement Wednesday.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction against Red Earth selling the jewelry or trading on Disney’s trademark in any other way, along with monetary damages to be determined later.
Florida
Attorney general identifies wrongful charges under halted immigration law
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — At least two people have been wrongly charged under a Florida law that outlaws people living in the U.S. illegally from entering the state since a federal judge halted its enforcement, according to a report Florida’s attorney general is required to file as punishment for defying the judge’s ruling.
Both men were arrested in late May by deputies in northeast Florida’s St. Johns County, more than a month after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami issued an order freezing the enforcement of the state statute. The law makes it a misdemeanor for people who are in the U.S. without legal permission to enter Florida by eluding immigration officials.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in his report filed at the beginning of July that he only became aware of the two cases at the end of June after requesting information from state and local law enforcement. As punishment for flouting her order and being found in civil contempt, the judge requires Uthmeier to file bimonthly reports about whether any arrests, detentions or law enforcement actions have been made under the law.
On May 29, St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a man with an active immigration detainer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and another man on counts of illegal entry and driving without a valid driver’s license, according to the status report.
As corrective action, the charge involving the man with the ICE detainer was dismissed in state court, and prosecutors filed a motion that was granted to vacate the charge for illegal entry in the second case, R.J. Larizza, state attorney for the jurisdiction that covers St. Johns County, said in a separate filing.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation into law in February as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Immigrants rights groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of two unnamed, Florida-based immigrants living in the U.S. illegally shortly after the bill was signed into law. The lawsuit said the new legislation violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution by encroaching on federal duties.
Williams issued a temporary restraining order and injunction that barred the enforcement of the new law statewide in April. The attorney general’s office then unsuccessfully petitioned the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to override that decision. Uthmeier also petitioned without success the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
After Williams issued her original order, Uthmeier sent a memo to state and local law enforcement officers telling them to refrain from enforcing the law, even though he disagreed with the injunction. But five days later, he sent a memo saying the judge was legally wrong and that he couldn’t prevent police officers and deputies from enforcing the law.
The judge last month found Uthmeier to be in civil contempt of her ruling. Uthmeier on Wednesday appealed the judge’s contempt order.
Besides championing the new law, Florida officials have helped Trump’s immigration crackdown with the construction of a new immigration detention center named “Alligator Alcatraz” at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades.
DeSantis said at a news conference Wednesday that a request has been developed for proposals for a second migrant detention facility at Camp Blanding in northeast Florida but no work has begun.
Alligator Alcatraz has “grown quickly” but is not yet at the 3,000 to 4,000 detainees originally envisioned, DeSantis said in Tampa.
“I’m willing to do Blanding once Alligator Alcatraz is filled,” the governor said. “Once there’s a demand, then we would be able to go for Camp Blanding.”
Wisconsin
Judge OKs release plan for woman who stabbed classmate for Slender Man
A Wisconsin woman will be released from a mental hospital more than a decade after she nearly stabbed a classmate to death to please the horror character Slender Man, a judge decided Thursday.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Scott Wagner signed off on the conditional plan to release Morgan Geyser, now 22, from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, a psychiatric hospital where she has spent the last seven years. Another judge had ruled in January she could be released after three experts testified she has made progress battling mental illness.
In April, prosecutors objected to Geyser’s original conditional release plan after the mother of the victim, Payton Leutner, expressed concern that Geyser’s group home was located eight miles away from Leutner. The judge then ordered the Department of Health Services to draft a new plan, which was approved Thursday.
Details of the plan and the timing of her release were not shared in court, and Geyser’s attorney did not immediately respond to phone messages seeking comment.
Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, lured Leutner to a Waukesha park after a sleepover in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier egged her on. All three girls were 12 years old at the time.
Geyser and Weier fled after the attack but were arrested as they were walking on Interstate 94. They told investigators they attacked Leutner to earn the right to be Slender Man’s servants and feared he would hurt their families if they didn’t follow through. They had planned to walk to Slender Man’s mansion in northern Wisconsin after the attack, they said.
Leutner barely survived. Geyser ultimately pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in 2017 but claimed she wasn’t responsible because she was mentally ill. The following year, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren had committed her to a psychiatric hospital for 40 years.
State health officials argued in March that Geyser couldn’t be trusted after learning that she hadn’t told her therapists that she had read a novel about murder and black market organ sales. They also alleged she had been communicating with a man who collects murder memorabilia and sent him her own sketch of a decapitated body and a postcard saying she wants to be intimate with him.
Cotton countered that Geyser only read what the facility allowed, and staff knew she had been communicating with the collector. He added that she stopped talking to the man in 2024 after she discovered he was selling things she sent him. Bohren concluded that Geyser wasn’t trying to hide anything and ordered state health officials to continue developing a release plan.
Wagner took over Geyser’s release request after Bohren retired this past April.
Weier pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted second-degree intentional homicide with a dangerous weapon in 2017, but like Geyser claimed she was mentally ill and not responsible for her actions. She was committed to 25 years in a mental hospital but was granted release in 2021 after agreeing to live with her father and to wear a GPS monitor.
The case has drawn widespread attention in part because of the girls’ fascination with the Slender Man character. Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudson in 2009 as a mysterious specter photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He’s typically depicted as a slim, spidery figure in a black suit with a featureless white face. He has grown into a popular boogeyman and has appeared in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.
Disney sues Hong Kong company it says is selling illegal Mickey Mouse jewelry
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday sued a Hong Kong jewelry company it accuses of selling illegal Mickey Mouse jewelry.
The international media and entertainment conglomerate filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles against the Red Earth Group, which sells jewelry online under the name Satéur.
Disney says the marketing and branding of the rings, necklaces and earrings in Satéur’s “Mickey 1928 Collection” violate its trademark rights and that the Hong Kong company is deliberately trying to fool customers into thinking the pieces are official Disney merchandise.
Satéur, the suit alleges, “intends to present Mickey Mouse as its own brand identifier for its jewelry merchandise and “seeks to trade on the recognizability of the Mickey Mouse trademarks and consumers’ affinity for Disney and its iconic ambassador Mickey Mouse.”
A message seeking comment from representatives of the Red Earth Group was not immediately answered.
The lawsuit is indicative of Disney’s dogged efforts to protect its intellectual property from unauthorized appropriation. Although the earliest version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain last year after Disney’s copyright expired, the company still holds trademark rights to the character.
Lawyers for Disney argue in the suit that Red Earth’s online marketing efforts “extensively trade on the Mickey Mouse trademarks and the Disney brand” with language that includes describing the jewelry as great for “Disney enthusiasts.”
Such tactics indicate Red Earth was “intentionally trying to confuse consumers,” the lawsuit says. The impression created, it says, “suggests, at a minimum, a partnership or collaboration with Disney.”
The earliest depiction of Mickey Mouse, who first appeared publicly in the film short “Steamboat Willie” in 1928, are now in the U.S. public domain. The widely publicized moment was considered a landmark in iconography going public.
The lawsuit alleges that Red Earth and Satéur are trying to use that status as a “ruse” to suggest the jewelry is legal, by dubbing it the “Mickey 1928 Collection” and saying it is being sold in tribute to the mouse’s first appearance.
The centerpiece of the collection, the suit says, is a piece of jewelry marketed as the “Satéur Mickey 1928 Classique Ring,” which has a Steamboat Willie charm sitting on the band holding a synthetic stone.
But there is an essential difference between copyright — which protects works of art — and trademark — which protects a company’s brand.
Even if a character is in the public domain, it cannot be used on merchandise in a way that suggests it is from the company with the trademark, as Disney alleges Red Earth is doing.
“Disney remains committed to guarding against unlawful trademark infringement and protecting consumers from confusion caused by unauthorized uses of Mickey Mouse and our other iconic characters,” Disney said in a statement Wednesday.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction against Red Earth selling the jewelry or trading on Disney’s trademark in any other way, along with monetary damages to be determined later.
Florida
Attorney general identifies wrongful charges under halted immigration law
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — At least two people have been wrongly charged under a Florida law that outlaws people living in the U.S. illegally from entering the state since a federal judge halted its enforcement, according to a report Florida’s attorney general is required to file as punishment for defying the judge’s ruling.
Both men were arrested in late May by deputies in northeast Florida’s St. Johns County, more than a month after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami issued an order freezing the enforcement of the state statute. The law makes it a misdemeanor for people who are in the U.S. without legal permission to enter Florida by eluding immigration officials.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said in his report filed at the beginning of July that he only became aware of the two cases at the end of June after requesting information from state and local law enforcement. As punishment for flouting her order and being found in civil contempt, the judge requires Uthmeier to file bimonthly reports about whether any arrests, detentions or law enforcement actions have been made under the law.
On May 29, St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested a man with an active immigration detainer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and another man on counts of illegal entry and driving without a valid driver’s license, according to the status report.
As corrective action, the charge involving the man with the ICE detainer was dismissed in state court, and prosecutors filed a motion that was granted to vacate the charge for illegal entry in the second case, R.J. Larizza, state attorney for the jurisdiction that covers St. Johns County, said in a separate filing.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the legislation into law in February as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Immigrants rights groups filed a lawsuit on behalf of two unnamed, Florida-based immigrants living in the U.S. illegally shortly after the bill was signed into law. The lawsuit said the new legislation violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution by encroaching on federal duties.
Williams issued a temporary restraining order and injunction that barred the enforcement of the new law statewide in April. The attorney general’s office then unsuccessfully petitioned the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to override that decision. Uthmeier also petitioned without success the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.
After Williams issued her original order, Uthmeier sent a memo to state and local law enforcement officers telling them to refrain from enforcing the law, even though he disagreed with the injunction. But five days later, he sent a memo saying the judge was legally wrong and that he couldn’t prevent police officers and deputies from enforcing the law.
The judge last month found Uthmeier to be in civil contempt of her ruling. Uthmeier on Wednesday appealed the judge’s contempt order.
Besides championing the new law, Florida officials have helped Trump’s immigration crackdown with the construction of a new immigration detention center named “Alligator Alcatraz” at an isolated airstrip in the Florida Everglades.
DeSantis said at a news conference Wednesday that a request has been developed for proposals for a second migrant detention facility at Camp Blanding in northeast Florida but no work has begun.
Alligator Alcatraz has “grown quickly” but is not yet at the 3,000 to 4,000 detainees originally envisioned, DeSantis said in Tampa.
“I’m willing to do Blanding once Alligator Alcatraz is filled,” the governor said. “Once there’s a demand, then we would be able to go for Camp Blanding.”
Wisconsin
Judge OKs release plan for woman who stabbed classmate for Slender Man
A Wisconsin woman will be released from a mental hospital more than a decade after she nearly stabbed a classmate to death to please the horror character Slender Man, a judge decided Thursday.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Scott Wagner signed off on the conditional plan to release Morgan Geyser, now 22, from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, a psychiatric hospital where she has spent the last seven years. Another judge had ruled in January she could be released after three experts testified she has made progress battling mental illness.
In April, prosecutors objected to Geyser’s original conditional release plan after the mother of the victim, Payton Leutner, expressed concern that Geyser’s group home was located eight miles away from Leutner. The judge then ordered the Department of Health Services to draft a new plan, which was approved Thursday.
Details of the plan and the timing of her release were not shared in court, and Geyser’s attorney did not immediately respond to phone messages seeking comment.
Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, lured Leutner to a Waukesha park after a sleepover in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier egged her on. All three girls were 12 years old at the time.
Geyser and Weier fled after the attack but were arrested as they were walking on Interstate 94. They told investigators they attacked Leutner to earn the right to be Slender Man’s servants and feared he would hurt their families if they didn’t follow through. They had planned to walk to Slender Man’s mansion in northern Wisconsin after the attack, they said.
Leutner barely survived. Geyser ultimately pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in 2017 but claimed she wasn’t responsible because she was mentally ill. The following year, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren had committed her to a psychiatric hospital for 40 years.
State health officials argued in March that Geyser couldn’t be trusted after learning that she hadn’t told her therapists that she had read a novel about murder and black market organ sales. They also alleged she had been communicating with a man who collects murder memorabilia and sent him her own sketch of a decapitated body and a postcard saying she wants to be intimate with him.
Cotton countered that Geyser only read what the facility allowed, and staff knew she had been communicating with the collector. He added that she stopped talking to the man in 2024 after she discovered he was selling things she sent him. Bohren concluded that Geyser wasn’t trying to hide anything and ordered state health officials to continue developing a release plan.
Wagner took over Geyser’s release request after Bohren retired this past April.
Weier pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted second-degree intentional homicide with a dangerous weapon in 2017, but like Geyser claimed she was mentally ill and not responsible for her actions. She was committed to 25 years in a mental hospital but was granted release in 2021 after agreeing to live with her father and to wear a GPS monitor.
The case has drawn widespread attention in part because of the girls’ fascination with the Slender Man character. Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudson in 2009 as a mysterious specter photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He’s typically depicted as a slim, spidery figure in a black suit with a featureless white face. He has grown into a popular boogeyman and has appeared in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.
