Disney bills California school $250 for showing ‘The Lion King’

A California father’s decision to put on a DVD of “The Lion King” to entertain kids at a parents’-night-out fundraiser may end up costing an elementary school $250, Berkeleyside reports.

A company that handles copyright violations for Disney has contacted Emerson Elementary School to demand $250 for publicly screening the film, Inside the Magic reports.

“The event made $800, so if we have to fork over a third of it to Disney, so be it,” said PTA president David Rose, KPIX reports. “You know, lesson learned.”

But Lori Droste, a parent at the school and a member of the Berkeley City Council, blasted Disney in a Twitter thread over the demand.

“Who wants to hear an unbelievable story about how Disney is essentially fining Berkeley’s Emerson Elementary School PTA $250 while reaping millions of dollars through a corporate loophole that has decimated public schools across California?” Droste wrote on Twitter.

“Now I can imagine some of you may say there are legitimate concerns with copyright and PTA made a mistake. Sure, I get that but coming after an elementary school? Really??” Droste wrote in a follow-up. “Disney wants $250 when we are struggling to pay our teachers and spending per pupil is laughable?”

The letter from Music Licensing USA says movies shown to the public for entertainment purposes require a $250 license to avoid violating copyrights, Berkeleyside reported.

Movie studios like Disney contract with the firm to follow up on reported violations, said Corey Goellner of Music Licensing USA, Inside the Magic reported.

“We’re responsible for checking to make sure their movies are protected, basically,” Goellner said, according to the publication. About 25,000 schools across the U.S. have purchased licenses to show Disney films, but not Emerson Elementary School.

Disney has a long history of strongly defending its copyrights and trademarks, The Hollywood Reporter says. In 2017, the studio sued a company that sent costumed Disney and “Star Wars” characters to children’s birthday parties.

In 1989, Disney sued the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences over an unlicensed spoof of Snow White at that year’s Oscars telecast, the Associated Press reports. Disney dropped the suit after the Academy apologized.

This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 11:26 AM with the headline "Disney bills California school $250 for showing ‘The Lion King’."