Pixar Animation Studios’ hopping desk-lamp character Luxo Jr., which debuted in 1986 and became part of the filmmaker’s corporate identity, triggered a trademark lawsuit by the Norwegian lampmaker Luxo AS.

Pixar and owner Walt Disney Co. are infringing Luxo’s brand by selling functioning, special-edition lamps bearing the Luxo Jr. name and using a six-foot animatronic version in the Walt Disney World theme park, Luxo said yesterday in a complaint in federal court in New York.

Sales of the Pixar lamps, packaged with a Disney DVD, will confuse consumers and “cause devastating damage to Luxo and dilute the goodwill which Luxo has built up” by selling high- quality lamps, Oslo-based Luxo said in the complaint.

John Lasseter, founder of Emeryville, California-based Pixar, said his own Luxo lamp inspired the character, though the “Luxo” name hasn’t been used on Pixar goods until now, according to the complaint.

Luxo Jr. made its debut in a silent, 2-minute, computer- animated film in which two lamps, a father and son, come to life and play with a ball. Pixar was acquired by Disney in 2006 and most recently released the computer-animated film “Up.”

Luxo, a unit of Oslo-based lighting company Glamox ASA, has sold more than 25 million of the dome-topped swivel lamps since 1939, and one is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, according to the complaint.

Disney spokesman Jonathan Friedland said today that the Burbank, California-based company hasn’t been served with the complaint and is “looking into it.”

[Source] Bloomberg

[Rant]

If you haven’t seen Luxo Jr. at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida, check out the 2 videos below. They are the same show, just day and night versions.