Not wanting to wait and spar to no end with the lawyers for Disney, Tabberone decided to take the action to Federal Court for Declaratory Judgment. On February 4, 2003, the case was settled and Disney has agreed to leave us alone! And, we did it without any help from lawyers by representing ourselves. On September 4, 2002, Disney Enterprises instructed eBay to terminate three auctions by Tabberone that featured fabric items made from licensed Disney fabric. On the same day, an email was sent by us to Disney requesting they clarify why the auctions were shiut down. On the same day, eBay disavowed any responsibility for the auctions being terminated, stating "it was all their fault". Later that same day, Disney replied, with a load of garbage about home-use only and that the items were derivatives. On November 18, we emailed Disney citing legal opinions as to why their actions were improper. We indicated we were planning to relist Disney items and wanted them to leave us alone. On November 19, having not received a response from Deborah Perry, we emailed Joe Woddall with the same message. We still have not received a response from either of them concerning their actions and/or our arguments. We're not holding our breath. After waiting a full week to give the Disney representatives more than enough time to respond, we decided to take more direct action: we wrote Disney's Senior Counsel with pretty much the same agrument and the same request: leave us alone. We sent this letter certified mail and they received it on December 2. Three weeks later no response. We then filed our lawsuit, now referred to as Civil Action 02-WM-2402 (PAC), in the Federal District Court for Colorado. Feel free to use any part of this lawsuit for yourself or threatened friend. The lawyers for Disney move slow. They mailed a response to us December 23, 2002, in which they say they "believe" our products infringe under California law. They believe? Jimminy Cricket! Belief must make it so! The Disney lawyers are (weakly) claiming the user agreement with eBay stipulates California law is binding. In a respones letter dated december 20, 2002, they seem to claim they are stupid (see citing Article 19 of the eBay User Agreement). The only paragraph that speaks of California Law refers to the User Agreement being bound by California law, not the buying and selling on eBay! The Disney lawyers don't have a defense and are scrambling for one. On December 30, 2002, a counter notice was faxed to eBay contesting the auction suspensions. Usually eBay responds immediately concerning counter notices. After almost two weeks, we decided to inquire as to what was the problem. After some delay, mostly around email addresses that had been changed "for better service", we received an answer. But, the answer wasn't consistant with eBay rules! They were "conferring" with Disney to see if the rules were being followed! Huh? What say does Disney have? Either they file in Federal court in two weeks ot not! Those are the rules! We immediately responded with the following on January 18, 2003, challenging the delay. After some delay, eBay got back to us telling us that Disney wanted to talk to us in an attempt to resolve the matter. January 24, 2003. On February 3, 2002, Disney faxed us a signed agreement which we also signed and faxed back to the the next day along with a copy of the Notice of Dismissal. As per the agreement, Disney emailed eBay to withdraw the suspended auctions on February 4, 2003, ending the conflict. Stay tuned for more details as they happen.

Disney touts it's quality control. What it doesn't mention is Disney clothing and toys are made in sweat shops in Haiti, South America, Bengladesh, Southeast Asia, and China. Click Here for some gruesome reading of articles about Disney's "quality control" of what really is slave labor.

Forced labor, a.k.a. slavery, is an issue that confronts many American manufacturers. Did you know it violates federal law and could invalidate many existing trademarks and copyrights? Click here for more details about our opinion on this.