Anovos, Disney, & Others Sued Over Cosplay

Louisiana man Richard Dalton is bringing a class action lawsuit against costume maker Anovos and the companies that gave them license to make these costumes. Anovos is well known for making Star Trek, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica replica costumes and have a reputation for high-quality merchandise. Disney/Lucasfilm, NBC Universal, and CBS Studios gave Anovos license to make these costumes, and are also named in the suit. Dalton is seeking damages regarding Fraud, Breach of Contract, Intentional Misrepresentation and more. (See the full complaint here.)

Dalton states he paid over $40,000 to Anovos for merchandise he did not receive, including costumes and a starship replica. After waiting for 3 years, Dalton found an explanation for his wait on the company website- apparently, production delays would cause customers to cancel their orders, thus raising the cost of materials per piece. It would also lead to the cancellation of some items when minimum quantities could not be met.

“Despite Anovos’ inability to fulfill the hundreds, if not thousands of pre-paid orders customers have already submitted, Anovos continues to market and sell pre-order items on its website and on social media in the same manner: requiring full upfront costs of the items in addition to shipping,” attorney Joshua Swigart writes in the complaint, adding that in April, the company  instituted an “all sales are final” policy.

As for suing the license holders, Dalton says the studios permitted Anovos to defraud consumers by renewing their licensing agreements.

The proposed class is currently defined as: “All consumers who paid for a pre-order product(s) from Anovos and licensed by Disney, NBCU, and/or CBS, and who have not received the product nor a refund from January 1, 2016, through the present.” The class action damages are estimated to exceed 5 million dollars.

Original Source: The Hollywood Reporter


About Kyle Williamson

"Captain" Kyle Williamson is a cosplayer, actor, writer, fan and author of "The Elements of Cosplay: The Costume and Beyond." He has also interviewed hundreds of actors, authors and cosplayers and has moderated panels for conventions such as Wizard World, Retro Con, Terrificon, Farpoint and Shore Leave to name a few. You can follow him on Twitter @captainkylepa and Instagram @captainkylephilly.

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