Oops, Disney did it again! The House of Mouse has once more been accused of plagiarism and copyright infringement.
This time it’s about their documentary series Behind the Attraction that stole YouTube creator James St. Onge’s architectural artworks.
The Disney+ show goes deep into the franchise’s popular destinations and theme parks, outlining their history and upgrades partnered with fan interviews and insights from Disney’s engineering team.
While the series was released late in July, it’s only last week that St. Onge was made aware of the offense. The details have been chronicled in his tweets:
St. Onge explains that he did not refer (or have access) to any existing Disney blueprints while making his own work. His Tower of Terrors is an original artistic rendition of the attraction, as explained in his 2019 video on his YouTube channel, Art of Engineering.
As you can see in the comparison tweets, the plagiarism is blatant—all Disney did was change the colors of St. Onge’s original work. As if that could fool anybody.
In the parts where Disney does make “structural” changes to the design, St. Onge points out that the information is factually wrong. For example, stating and depicting that the ride has only one shaft when it actually has three.
St. Onge also explained that Disney’s usual tactic is to claim that any fanart or derivative art is still under the franchise’s purview according to copyright laws.
But the same does not apply to architectural art which has a separate set of laws and, in short, means that St. Onge has complete ownership over his work, even if the drawing is based on a Disney building.
The tweet thread went moderately viral, and while it is unsure if St. Onge contacted them about the same, Disney got the message loud and clear.
Behind the Attraction’s creator, Brian Volk-Weiss, got on a call with St. Onge, and both parties have now reached a resolution. The series will be reworked to include St. Onge in the credits. It is unknown if the creator will receive any monetary compensation.
The Nacelle Company and Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Production, who executive produced the series, have also formally apologized. It has been noted that graphic designer Jeremy Samples who worked on the show was not responsible for the blunder.
Given St. Onge’s talent, it is a pity that Disney did not simply think of getting him on board in the first place instead of being sneaky and copying the work. Or at the very least, credit him for his art.
Thankfully for St. Onge, his tale will have a happy ending.
Source: Twitter
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