Media companies, worried about protecting their content, are clamping down on how their kid-friendly characters are used in the outside world. Parents planning birthday parties for their
children with costumed characters like Hannah Montana are now facing stumbling blocks that include trademark infringement.
Lately, Marvel Entertainment Inc., Scholastic and other corporations that own the rights to popular characters have sent cease-and-desist letters, threatened lawsuits and in some cases received settlements from unauthorized character impersonators.