Disney slaps Star Wars fans with copyright notices for sharing pictures of a toy online

With just days to go before the release ofLucasfilm'sfirst-everStar Warsmovie under the Walt Disney Company banner,the House of Mouse is showingits dark side.

JustinKozisekof the podcast Star Wars Action News was reportedly shopping at an Iowa Walmartlast week when he spotted an action figure of the character Reyfrom Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

After purchasing the toy for $6.94 US,Kozisek took a picture of it and posted it to the podcast's Facebook page.

"Have we known this figure was coming?" he asked in the post. "I just found her at Walmart no new other figures."

The image didn't stay up forlong.

Marjorie Carvalho, who produces the Star Wars Action News podcast with her husband, told Ars Technica thatshe received a notice fromFacebooklater thatday explaining theimage had been removed because it"violated copyright."

"A friend texted my husbandsaying, hey, are you getting sued?" Carvalho said in an interview with Ars Technica. "It was confusing because our staff member, Justin, he took the photo."

For publishingthat photo,Kozisekwas immediatelybanned from Facebook for a period of at least three days.

As it turns out, Disney had submitted aDigital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) copyright infringement claim with Facebook to quash Kozisek'simageof the toy, whichis thought to have been released prematurely by the Walmart store where it was purchased.

EnoughStar Wars memorabilia fans had already downloaded and shared the photo at that point, however, that ridding the web of it would be nearly impossible.

Disney's copyright lawyers were not deterred.

"The image had quicklyspread throughsocial media," wrote Ars Technicaof the situation. "And just as fast, Lucasfilm,its owner Disney, and at least one third-party contentpolicing company have blanketed the internet with Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices."

Jeremy Conrad, who ownsa website called Star Wars Unity, wrote a scathing blogpost about theDMCA notice he'd received from Lucasfilmfor retweeting photos of the action figure.

That website has since been taken offline, but a cached version of the pagereads:

"This morning I woke up to numerous DMCA takedown notices on the @starwarsunity Twitter account, the Facebook account, the Google+ Page, and my personal Twitter for posting the image of an action figure that was legally purchased at Walmart. My webhost also received a takedown email from them with a threat of a lawsuit if the image wasn't removed."

Conrad wrote that the"description of infringement" listed bythe notice was "a screen shot of an unreleased figurine for Star Wars: Force Awakens."

Interestingly, afterCarvalhoreached out to Disney using the email address listed in the DMCA notice she'd received, Facebookresponded to tell her that"The Walt Disney Company has retracted their intellectual property report."

The picture of the action figure was restored only to be taken down againby Facebooklater that daywhen Disneysubmitted yet anotherDMCAnotice, according to Reuters.

"It is unclear why Disney renewed the claim after apparently accepting Carvalho's explanation and retracting the original notice," reads a piece published yesterday by the Reuters Law & Technology blog. "It seems clear that publication of the photographs of the action figure constitute fair use.The figure was purchased legally, and Star Wars Action Newshas the right to take photographs of the figure and to publish those photographs.Disney's efforts to block such publication are inappropriate."

It would appear as though many fans of the franchise and its merchandise agree.

While Star Wars Action News has not published any photos of the controversial toy since thiscopyright battle began, fans of the page have been sharing their own photos(and thoughts on the matter)using hashtags like #ReyGate and #FreeJustin across the web.