They never pretended to have made up those stories.
If you want a villain, consider Disney who tried (sometimes successfully in the US) to exert control of the use of fairytales by other parties after they'd made a film of one.
If you want a villain, consider Disney who tried (sometimes successfully in the US) to exert control of the use of fairytales by other parties after they'd made a film of one.
What Disney has done is sued over trademark claims on Snow White, Beauty and the Beast etc, trying to claim proprietary ownership of public domain stories, characters and ideas.
Theese suits were expensive and not always successful so they eventually decided to stop explicitly mining the past and start developing their own characters (e.g. mermaid etc).
You can't trademark a story or idea, but you can trademark a particular character design. You can make your own Cinderella interpretation as long as you don't copy the exact art and design made by someone else.