The organization known as Hell’s Angels Motorcycle Club has filed a lawsuit against Walt Disney for the media giant’s use of the Hell’s Angels’s name and trademark in its upcoming film “Wild Hogs.” (Here’s the complaint from FindLaw.com.)
The motorcycle club says it never approved Disney’s usage of its name and trademarked death skull in publicizing the movie, a comedy about middle-aged bikers. (Click here for the Hell’s Angels’ Web site, which displays the organization’s helmeted, horned, and feathered skull.)
The suit, filed in California federal court, alleges that the movie’s promotional materials say that “Wild Hogs” — which will star John Travolta and Tim Allen and is set to begin production next month — is about a “group of middle-aged wannabe bikers look[ing] for adventure out on the open road, where they soon encounter a chapter of the Hell’s Angels.”
Details here from The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog.