Disney Taking Legal Action Against Deadmau5 Over His Mouse Head Trademark

[alp227]

Source: EDM.com

Back in April, we reported that Disney was investigating deadmau5's attempt to trademark his signature mouse head logo. After months of deliberation by Disney, TMZ revealed today that the corporation will be taking legal action against deadmau5. Disney believes the logo deadmau5 is trying to trademark is too similar to the iconic Mickey Mouse.

Check out a comparison of the two logos below, courtesy of legalwriter2011 from Flickr.





According to TMZ, "In the docs, Disney states its ears have been a thing for more than 60 years, and says granting Deadmau5 the trademark would damage its business in the U.S. and around the world."

Read more: http://edm.com/blog/deadmau5-disney-legal-action

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Thanks, Sonny Bono!

[Psephos]

1. Oh, for fuck's sake.

Deadmau5 ought to sue Disney for trashing *his* brand.

[rpannier]

2. Wow! Pound sand Disney

doesn't really look close

Maybe the olympics can sue Disney
I mean the three circles look oddly like 3 of the 5 olympic rings

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Deadmau5 started this by trying to register it as a trademark

He's the one who made it a legal matter.

[lunasun]

3. Wow I have been familiar with Deadmau5 for years and never thought of Disney or Mickey

When I see the image
Really wtf??

[Papagoose]

5. When I first saw the Deadmau5 head, I thought it was associated with Disney

Maybe it's because I have Disney on the brain with children in the house, but I see it.

I do think these infringement lawsuits can get ridiculous though.

[Locrian]

7. how can Deadmau5 not be similar to this?

Not that I'm a big fan of either....

[NYC Liberal]

11. It's the first thing I thought of the first time I saw it.

Same with everyone I know who have seen both.

[Jack Rabbit]

4. Because Wikipedia is my friend, I just found out who Deadmau5 is

Off hand, I would say that the Deadmau5 logo looks like an Art Decco Mickey. I guess that means Disney has a case. On the other hand, since Disney is no longer means good, wholesome fun for the kids but just another money grubbing corporation that thinks its entitled to more rights to real people, I suppose Psephos has a point: Deadmau5 should sue Disney.

[KurtNYC]

6. side note: Mickey Mouse was a recreation of Oswald the Rabbit which Walt Disney lost control of

to Universal for 8 decades. Not sure if Universal ever tried to shut down Mortimer/Mickey Mouse for being derivative of Oswald Rabbit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald_the_Lucky_Rabbit

[GliderGuider]

8. Perhaps he could consider a small graphic change...

I don't think anyone would mistake that for Uncle Walt's rodent.

[morningfog]

10. Where's Disney been for the past decade?

[NYC Liberal]

12. This happened because now they're trying to trademark it

[Xithras]

13. Yes, because it's so easy to confuse the two

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. That's not black; his trademark application specifies 'black'

and covers all kinds of non-music-related areas:

Last year, Zimmerman's Ronica Holdings Limited applied for a mark consisting of a caricature of a mouse head with black ears, black face, white eyes and white mouth. The registration would cover classes including electrical and scientific apparatus, vehicles (specifically BMX bikes), paper goods, leather goods, toys and sporting goods, staple foods (like coffee), light beverages and entertainment services.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/deadmau5-v-mickey-mouse-trademark-692442

[Xithras]

15. Interesting. I wonder why he did that.

Deadmau5 has done all sorts of colors and variations over the years. Part of the schtick is the ever changing mouse head. I wonder why he tried to trademark black specifically.

[Earth_First]

16. This is some Mickey Mouse™ @ss bullsh*t... nt

[Earth_First]

17. Related: