Disney Files Lawsuit Against 23 Year Old Producer San Holo

By Kyle Marno on September 19, 2014

“Continuing the copyright drama that started with Deadmau5, Disney now lashes out at upcoming producer.”

After the recent changes in the fair use law of July 25th, Disney has been launching lawsuits against EDM artists that infringe upon their company name and image. Starting with the well documented attacks on the reputed Deadmau5, for having a mouse head helmet that looks too similar to Mickey Mouse’s, it seems that more EDM producers will now have to cope with these copyright infringement procedures.

With Disney’s $4.05 billion take-over of LucasFilm for the rights to the Star Wars franchise, the company now have the 23 year old Dutch artist San Holo in their sights. Having acquired the rights to Star Wars, Disney is planning to release another three Star Wars films, with episode 7 now in production and set for release in 2015. With mountain high pressure on the company for this release, they have not taken lightly to San Holo’s wordplay on the name of one of the franchise’s leading characters, Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford.

San Holo, a relatively new artist, likely attracted attention to himself after the release of his single ‘Hiding (ft. The Nicholas)’, which was well received on Soundcloud and by numerous blogs. Disney has stuck him with a cease-and-desist, as was the case with Deadmau5, with a strike fee estimated between $5 to $10 million for continuation of his infringement. San Holo is disputing these claims based on the fair use law.

Having just released his ‘debut EP ‘COSMOS’ on independent label Heroic Recordings, the young producer isn’t showing any signs of backing down.

Heroic Recordings comments on the matter in an email saying:

“We are shocked by these procedures, which are truly unfortunate for Sander (San Holo). It should be clear that he’s chosen his name for the love of the Star Wars franchise, so to interpret it the opposite way is just crazy. We love his latest release and hope this doesn’t obstruct his success as an artist.”

It is a scary idea to imagine that Disney has started a trend of pursuing EDM artists for such claimed copyright infringements, especially as it sets an example for other corporations…. Mord Fustang, you are warned.

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