The Avengers Phase One Blu-ray collector’s set is now being delayed until spring 2013 due to legal troubles with a German luggage company.

Just a week ago we reported that Amazon had pulled The Avengers Phase One Blu-ray collector’s set from their site for pre-orders, most likely due to the lawsuit that was brought against Disney by a German luggage company which claimed Marvel and Disney had infringed upon one of their patented briefcase designs.

The official complaint from German luggage company Rimowa GmbH:

“Images of the replica briefcase on Marvel’s advertising materials, and fan video from Marvel’s product display at this year’s Comic-Con convention, show the plastic ‘replica case’ to be a close copy of Rimowa’s Topas attaché case in every respect but quality — from the proportions and coloring, to the style of the handle and latches, and, of course, in the use of the trademarked parallel ridges around the body of the case.”

This will not affect the release of The Avengers standalone DVD/Blu-ray, which will hit stores on September 25. When we reported this news back in early August, we had no idea that this lawsuit would gain so much traction, but the trademark claim was simply too strong to disregard and Disney was forced to delay (and most likely destroy) all of the “Tesseract” cases that were going to be included in the collector’s set.

This is definitely a gut-shot to fans who had already pre-ordered the set, mostly due to the interesting packaging which was at the center of the lawsuit. We have to imagine that Disney will design their own case in which to include all of the Blu-rays and set a release date next spring, or possibly work out a deal with the German luggage company (doubtful).

If you did pre-order The Avengers Phase One Blu-ray collector’s set, we imagine you’ll be receiving a an emailed apology and a refund within the next few days.

This is disappointing news after reporting that The Avengers had just broken $1.5 billion dollars worldwide over this past weekend. We have to say, we’re sad to see the set delayed and we know many of our readers were definitely looking forward to picking up this great collector’s set in the next few weeks. Luckily, we can still pick up The Avengers standalone DVD/Blu-ray on September 25, which will hopefully lessen this blow.

Update: Disney has now released an official statement.

We are sorry to inform you that there will be a delay in the availability of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One – Avengers Assembled Collection. Originally, the Collection was to be available on September 25, 2012, but unfortunately we are now unable to make that date. We are currently working with Marvel to identify the exact date when the Collection will be available, but we expect it to be during Spring, 2013.

The Collection will come in a new briefcase and include even more than the content and features that were first advertised. We know that you are disappointed in this delay, and we are working hard to get your Collection to you as soon as possible. We will have an updated announcement for you in the coming weeks which will include actual timing and final details. Once again, we apologize for the delay and hope that when you do receive the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One – Avengers Assembled Collection, you will enjoy it as much as Marvel enjoyed creating it.

So, it appears we’ll be getting more content, despite the delay in the release of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe: Phase One – Avengers Assembled Collection. We look forward to seeing what else will be included in the collector’s set due to the delay and the new case that will most likely be a completely new design.