Lotso Lawsuit

From The Hollywood Reporter: New Jersey-based toy company Diece-Lisa Industries (DLI), creator of the “Lots of Hugs” toy bears, is suing Disney Enterprises over its “Lots-O’-Huggin'” character, featured in Toy Story 3. Diece-Lisa alleges that Disney’s use of the character’s name is too close to (stuffed bear-hug) comfort to be anything but trademark infringement, especially since DLI had previously licensed its technology to another company which worked with Disney for a Jim Henson product (Disney’s Bear in the Big Blue House). Because of Disney’s use of the name, DLI claims, another company, Interactive Group, hesitated to use DL’s “Lots of Hugs” trademark, because it was worried about a reaction from Disney. Interactive Group preferred another name, Hugalots. Link to complaint here.