A Hong Kong online jewellery shop sued by The Walt Disney Company for trademark infringement has withdrawn its entire Mickey Mouse-themed collection, despite denying any brand violation.
Sateur, operated by Red Earth Group Limited, removed the products after legal advice warned of the potential for a lengthy multimillion-dollar court battle.
The company said that, while it believed it had lawfully used the 1928 version of the character, which entered the US public domain in 2024, it was yielding to the pressure of facing a “billion-dollar corporation”.
“While we believe we followed the law and the exact guidelines laid out by Duke Professor Jennifer Jenkins, most lawyers expressed sympathy but explained they could not take on a case of this scale within our budget,” the company told the Post.
“After consulting several US lawyers, we learned this case could take years and millions of dollars to fight, with Disney trying every tool to bury us in legal fees.
“We are still discussing our next steps with counsel, but for now we’ve been advised to take everything down while we assess options.”
The lawsuit was filed by Disney Enterprises, Inc, on July 16 in a federal court in California. It accuses the Wong Chuk Hang-based firm of misleading consumers into believing its “Mickey 1928 Collection” was an authorised partnership.
Disney’s court filing argued the collection was an attempt to “cash in on the popularity of Disney’s Mickey Mouse brand and to mislead consumers into believing that Red Earth Group is an authorised seller of authentic Disney merchandise”.
