By Michaela Gordoni
A law firm wanted to use the Mickey Mouse character from Disney’s 1928 animated short STEAMBOAT WILLIE, but Disney has pushed back.
The personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan wants to have a nationwide campaign featuring the classic Mickey Mouse. It filed a suit for a court order so that the commercial doesn’t violate Disney’s rights, The Hollywood Reporter said.
Morgan & Morgan’s filing comes after Disney filed a suit in July against a jewelry company, Satéur, which used 1928’s Mickey Mouse in its product designs.
Disney only retained copyright protection for STEAMBOAT WILLIE until 2024.
“We will, of course, continue to protect our rights in the more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright,” Disney said at the time of the copyright expiration.
Related: Mickey Mouse to Enter Public Domain in 2024
The law firm cites Disney’s “history of aggressive enforcement of intellectual property rights” and the company’s “refusal to disclaim an intent to engage in enforcement against” Morgan & Morgan and recent litigation with Satéur.
The law firms’ 37-second commercial shows Mickey crashing a steamboat into Minnie Mouse, prompting her to call the law firm. It has a clear disclaimer that the video isn’t endorsed by Disney.
Disney claims the expiration of its copyright doesn’t give the public free range to infringe on its trademarks.
Satéur doesn’t have the right to “infringe Disney’s continuing rights over its trademarks that identify Disney as the source of goods and services and to profit off the goodwill that Disney has built with the public over decades,” wrote Kelly Klaus, a lawyer for the complaint. “As Disney has stated publicly, while copyright expired in the STEAMBOAT WILLIE motion picture, Mickey Mouse will continue to play a leading role as a global ambassador for Disney.”
Earlier this year, a horror spoof on the short, called STEAMBOAT, was released.
It’s possible that the jewelry suit could be a win for Disney, but it may lose the Morgan & Morgan case.
Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Duke Centre for the Study of the Public Domain, said the copyright expiration was a “deeply symbolic and long awaited” milestone. “What that means for us is that as of 2024, anyone will be free to copy, share and build upon those original cartoons from 1928 and the characters within them.”
“What I cannot do is start making merchandise and the same kinds of products that Disney sells,” she said. “So if I’m selling T-shirts with Mickey and Minnie on them, and someone seeing those T-shirts thinks erroneously that they’re getting a Disney product when they’re not, that’s what trademark stops.”
Read Next: Disney Faces Copyright Lawsuit for This Popular Franchise
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
– Content: +1Share:
– Content: +2