Why Fraggle Rock characters aren’t called Muppets anymore

Disney owns the word “Muppet.” When it bought Kermit and friends in 2004, the name came too, so Jim Henson’s Fraggles got left without it. Even Sesame Street needs Disney’s OK.

Jim Henson invented the Muppets. His own company can’t use the word anymore.

When Disney bought the Muppets from The Jim Henson Company in February 2004, it didn’t just get Kermit, Miss Piggy and Fozzie. It got the name, too.

“As a result, the term ‘Muppet’ became a legal trademark of Disney,” per Wikipedia’s history of the franchise. And the characters Henson kept? “Following Disney’s acquisition of the Muppets, puppets created by the Jim Henson Company are no longer referred to as Muppets.”

That includes the Fraggles.

Who owns the Muppets now?

It’s split three ways, and it trips up a lot of fans.

• Disney owns the Muppet Show gang, including Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, Animal and the rest, plus the Bear in the Big Blue House characters, per Muppet Wiki. It also owns the word “Muppet.”

• The Jim Henson Company kept Fraggle Rock and its other franchises, per Muppet Wiki.

• Sesame Workshop owns the Sesame Street characters, like Elmo, Big Bird and Cookie Monster.

So the frog and the Fraggles came from the same workshop, but they live at different companies now.

Can Sesame Street characters still be called Muppets?

Yes, but only because Disney allows it.

“Under license from Disney, Sesame Workshop continues to use the term for their characters, as well as archival footage of Kermit the Frog,” per Wikipedia.

That’s why you’ll still hear Elmo and Grover called Muppets, even though Disney doesn’t own them. Kermit, who appeared on Sesame Street from its early days, shows up in old clips through that same arrangement.

Why can’t Fraggle Rock use the Muppet name?

Because the Henson Company sold the trademark along with the Muppet Show characters.

Fraggle Rock was Jim Henson’s show. It first aired on Jan. 10, 1983, on HBO in the U.S. and CBC in Canada, and ran until March 30, 1987, per Wikipedia. For years, Gobo, Red, Wembley, Boober and Mokey were Muppets like everybody else.

But the Fraggles weren’t part of the 2004 sale, so they stayed with Henson. The word “Muppet” went to Disney.

The Fraggles came back in Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock on Apple TV+ on Jan. 21, 2022, per Wikipedia. Same characters, same Henson Company, and no Muppet label.

Did Henson ever sue over the Muppet name?

Yes, and one case started with a coffee company.

The Fraggles lost the label in the 2004 sale. But years before that, the word “Muppet” ended up in front of a federal judge, thanks to two puppets named Wilkins and Wontkins.

Jim and Jane Henson made them for Wilkins Coffee commercials in Washington, D.C., from 1957 to 1961, per Wikipedia. Wilkins loved the coffee. Wontkins refused to drink it, and in most of the 10-second spots he got shot, run over or worse for it.

The Hensons signed rights to the characters over to the coffee’s maker in 1958, according to a 1994 federal court opinion.

Then, in 1991, Wilkins Coffee and a marketing firm, John T. Brady & Associates, brought the pair back. They put them on coffee can lids, T-shirts, coupons and newspaper ads, and pitched them as “Original Muppets Created by Jim Henson,” per the opinion.

Jim Henson Productions, Jane Henson and Jim Henson’s estate sued in federal court in New York.

What did the judge say a Muppet is?

A puppet plus the people performing it, the Henson way.

On Oct. 21, 1994, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled that Wilkins Coffee had no rights from the Hensons’ 1958 deals, because the chain of ownership had broken over the decades.

On the word itself, the opinion leaned on the Henson side’s definition: the felt-and-plastic character, performed by Henson-trained puppeteers in a way the company approved. Without that, the court said, the coffee puppets were “no more Muppets than a ‘Sting Ray’ with its engine removed is a ‘Corvette.’”

The opinion also noted that Henson kept licensing of the Muppet name “tightly controlled.”

The trademark claims weren’t decided that day. They were sent toward trial, and we couldn’t find a record of how that part ended. Wilkins Coffee closed in 1997, per Wikipedia.

There was one strange side plot. At a June 1992 convention booth, Jane Henson tore up the coffee side’s promo materials and took down photos of herself and her late husband, per the opinion. The judge awarded the coffee side $1,211.59 for it.

So in 1994, the Fraggles were still Muppets, and Henson was willing to go to court over the word. Ten years later, it sold the word to Disney.

Who made up the word “Muppet”?

Jim Henson did, in the 1950s. He said he coined it early in his career, before his first TV show, “Sam and Friends,” which debuted in 1955 on a Washington, D.C., station, per CBR.

For years, the story was that “Muppet” mashed together “marionette” and “puppet.” Henson later came clean.

“We told reporters the word was a combination of puppets and marionettes, but that wasn’t true,” he told the Baltimore Sun in 1984, per CBR. In a 1983 interview, he called it “just a term we made up.”

Does Disney still make Muppet shows?

Yes. The Muppet Show turns 50 this year, and Disney has been celebrating with new merchandise, per its Disney Store releases this fall.

So the name Jim Henson made up now belongs to Disney, while the company that still carries his name keeps making puppets it can’t call Muppets. It’s one of the stranger family splits in entertainment.

Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.

Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.

Hat Tips:

• Jim Henson Productions v. John T. Brady & Associates (S.D.N.Y., Oct. 21, 1994), the 1958 agreements, the 1991 revival, the court’s definition of a Muppet and the convention damages

• Wikipedia, Wilkins and Wontkins and Wilkins Coffee: the 1957-1961 commercials and the company’s 1997 closing

• Wikipedia, The Muppets: the trademark, the Sesame Workshop license and Henson puppets no longer called Muppets

• Muppet Wiki, the 2004 sale and who owns which characters

• Wikipedia, Fraggle Rock: run dates, networks and Back to the Rock

• CBR, Henson on where the word “Muppet” came from

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