The U.S. Trademark Office can sometimes resemble a cat-and-mouse game. Six months ago, we broke news that Disney was investigating a trademark registration filed by the company owned by EDM star Joel Zimmerman, better known as Deadmau5 .
Deadmau5 drops some “complete pwnage” on Disney in legal war
Disney may be a famously litigious organisation, but they probably didn’t realise who they’re dealing with when they brought the lawyers out to fight Joel ‘Deadmau5′ Zimmerman’s application to trademark his mau5head in the United States.
Earlier this week Disney filed to block Deadmau5’s trademark on the grounds of his logo being “too similar to their famous Mickey ears.” “Lawyer up, mickey,” Deadmau5 tweeted back, and it didn’t take him long to counter-file.
Earlier today, Deadmau5 tweeted photographs of a ‘Cease & Desist” filed by his lawyer Dina LaPolt demanding that Disney take down a video on its website featuring Mickey Mouse and unlicensed use of Deadmau5’s iconic track Ghosts n’ Stuff (which, incidentally, turned ten earlier this week), along with the message “oh, @disney just in case you dont check your email, ill just leave this here… Have a magical fucking day!”
“It has recently come to our attention that Disney has uploaded a cartoon video entitled “Ghosts-n-Stuff – Re-Micks” [that] has been infringing Zimmerman’s copyrights,” the letter reads. “Zimmerman is unaware of any license granting Disney the right to exploit the Master [‘Ghosts n’ Stuff]… Disney prominently features the Deadmau5 Mark next to the infringing video, implying a non-existent endorsement.” If you get a kick out of Ari Gold-style legal threats, you can read the full letter below.
Zimmerman may still have to battle Disney in court over his mau5head trademark, but it’s safe to say that now Disney’s legal department know who they’re dealing with. “lets test a theory, it takes em 10 years to oppose a trademark, lets see how long it takes em to take down a video,” Deadmau5 tweeted, shortly after posting the letter.
So now, @disney is illegally using my work... and CONFUSING people that id actualyly work with these twats.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014So now, @disney is illegally using my work... and CONFUSING people that id actualyly work with these twats.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014okay mouse, http://t.co/zT7tTLffFw i never gave disney a liscene to use my track. So. we emailed you a C&D. @disney
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014
