Warner Bros. Requests Destruction of Leg Lamp In Chickasha, Oklahoma

The 50-foot-tall Leg Lamp in Chickasha, Oklahoma, is being threatened by Warner Brothers for copyright infringement. The Leg Lamp is a giant replica from the one made famous by the classic holiday movie "A Christmas Story," which was produced by Warner Brothers in 1983. The Leg Lamp has been a permanent attraction in Chickasha since November of 2022, and now Warner Brothers is seeking "removal and destruction" of the attraction.

The Leg Lamp is managed by the Chickasha Community Foundation, and in the fall of last year, the foundation received a letter from Warner Brothers demanding the "removal and destruction" of Chickasha's replica attraction. According to an article from Fox 25, Warner Brothers is claiming it owns the copyright and trademark for the leg lamp from the movie "A Christmas Story," and that the replica attraction in Chickasha infringes on that copyright.

Jim Cowan with the Chickasha Community Foundation told Fox 25 that there is no copyright infringement happening with the Leg Lamp in Chickasha.

"The one's that hate this thing, they didn’t want to understand it," Cowan said. "They were just like, 'Told you we were going to get sued. Told you we were going to get sued.' The reality is there has been no lawsuit. The biggest thing is this isn't an amusement park. It didn't cost you $20 to come in and see the world's largest leg lamp. The only thing we're selling is officially licensed merchandise. So there is no infringement."

No lawsuit has been filed for the removal of the Leg Lamp in Chickasha.

As of Tuesday, Feb. 25, according to the Chickasha Community Foundation, a lawsuit has not been filed by Warner Brothers against the foundation. The foundation, according to Cowan, reached out to Warner Brothers before bringing the leg lamp to the community asking if the entertainment corporation would consider helping pay for the installation. But records show that in 2019, Warner Brothers declined to help fund the project.

When speaking with KFOR, Cowan indicated Warner Brothers had never raised concerns about the replica installation until the foundation received a letter from the corporation last fall. Cowan stated that the foundation turned the letter over to the foundation's attorneys who have since contacted Warner Brothers but have yet heard back.

Even though a lawsuit has yet to be filed, Cowan believes the foundation is ready to fight back.

"We believe we did it right," Cowan said, "we have attorneys that believed we did it right and so I can't imagine Warner Brothers wanting to pick on a small little town in rural Oklahoma," Cowan said.

The Chickasha community has rallied behind the town's Leg Lamp attraction.

Before the Leg Lamp was a permanent attraction in Chickasha, the town used an inflatable Leg Lamp, and it was to honor the town's former citizen who designed the lamp for the movie. Once the permanent attraction opened in November of 2022, the town of Chickasha began its quest to become Christmas Town USA. Chickasha already had its annual Festival of Lights and Christmas parade, but local stores, restaurants and places to stay began leaning into the Christmas-craze.