A sculptor has told through TikTok that Disney he stole, perhaps unknowingly, the design of his sculpture to sell it in his amusement parks. This sculpture was made in 2018, while the Disney ones have only appeared this year. The resemblance is uncanny, even the smallest imperfections are exactly the same, such as circles seeping into each other and various scratch marks.
“Disney stole my artwork and is selling it in their parksAndrew Martin says.A little backstory—in 2018, I made this fan art sculpture of one of the Tiki drummers from Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. I wanted to recreate a small piece for myself. When I posted pictures of this little guy on social media, I got hundreds of messages from people asking to buy it. Since I didn’t want to deal with that, I posted the 3D model on Thingiverse under a “creative commons” license, so people could make one for themselves.“.
Disney He is now selling that same sculpture as a 50th anniversary commemorative music box, priced at $125. That’s a hefty price tag compared to the free creative commons blueprint that Martin originally shared, but no credit was given and permission was never asked. Martin does not gain anything from the product. “Disney is taking credit for my work and selling it in their parks without my permission, consent or even credit to the artistMartin continued.Now I’m going to give Disney the benefit of the doubt and say that they did not intend to directly steal my work.“.
Martin goes on to explain that Disney outsources freelance artists for projects like this, and he knows this because he has worked for Disney in a similar vein himself, developing an Up-themed sculpture. He believes one of these freelance artists likely took his work and he passed it off as his own. So far he has not taken legal action, and it is not clear what action he will take if he does, but he shared the TikTok video to raise awareness that the Tiki Drummer product from the Disney parks is not owned by the brand and that, fact, it is according to account, stolen.