Mickey Mouse vs. Deadmau5—Battle of the Ears

A trademark dispute is underway between Disney’s Mickey Mouse, the lovable animated mouse that has been captivating children since in 1920’s, and Deadmau5, a progressive-house music producer and performer. That is to say their respective companies are fighting over Deadmau5’s recent application to register the design of its mouse ears logo, often called the “mau5head,” which Disney alleges resembles the Mickey Mouse ears. Disney is known for aggressively protecting its marks and has a long history of successfully fighting those that come too close to its brands. This time, Disney filed a 171-page complaint with the Trademark Office alleging, among other things, that the registration of the mau5head design is likely to cause confusion with the famous Mickey Mouse ears. However, in its Answer filed last month, Ronica Holdings Limited, the applicant, shot back over 1,000 pages including exhibits which contained allegations that Disney has allegedly been willing to “collaborate with [Deadmau5] on a number of projects,” and hundreds of articles showing the notoriety of the performer. Discovery in the case is set to open on November 11, 2014.

Deadmau5 already holds a patent on the 3-D mau5head design he dons as a headpiece during his live shows, and joked in a 2012 Rolling Stones interview that "someone at the Disney patent office fell asleep on that one.” However, Deadmau5 also sells products with the design, including clothing, accessories and posters. It will be interesting to see how this case progresses and whether Mickey Mouse will prevail once again.

Sources: http://deadmau5.fanfire.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/artistcategoryName=Accessories&artistName=deadmau5&sourceCode=DEAWEBWWUSD http://www.marketplace.org/topics/business/trademark-law-why-disney-fighting-canadian-dj Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Opposition No. 91218136

For more information on this topic, please visit our Trademark Litigation service page.

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