File this one under weird. It seems that the Morgan & Morgan law firm in Florida is filing a lawsuit to prevent Disney from suing them if they use “Steamboat Willie” versions of Mickey and Minnie in a commercial.
According to ClickOrlando, Florida’s largest law firm, Morgan & Morgan has filed a suit to protect their use of the public domain version of Mickey Mouse from Disney lawyers.
What does Morgan & Morgan want to do with Mickey Mouse?
The law firm has created a commercial featuring the public domain versions of both Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.
In the advertisement, Mickey is sailing along in his boat when he hits Minnie Mouse’s car. Minnie then texts #LAW and seemingly wins a settlement as Mickey is seen handing her a bag of money.
ClickOrlando put the commercial up on YouTube.
Before and after the advertisement, it is made clear that it is in no way endorsed by the Walt Disney Company.
The advertisement has not yet been run because Morgan & Morgan reached out to Disney seeking “assurance from Disney that the commercial wouldn’t trigger legal action,” but Disney reportedly did not agree. Then Disney filed a suit against a jewelry company (likely Red Earth) a day later, over the use of the public domain character design. Even though “Steamboat Willie” is in the public domain, Disney is arguing intellectual property rights.
Morgan & Morgan want a preemtive judgment indicating that their use of “Steamboat Willie” is not an infringement of Disney’s rights to avoid a future bigger lawsuit with the House of Mouse.
This is what it’s come to. Law firms are afraid to use the public domain Mickey Mouse and are filing for permission to use the open copyright version before airing a commercial.
Basically, “Steamboat Willie” is in the public domain, but Disney isn’t going to allow anyone to use it.
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