Disney Officially Seeks To Block Deadmau5's Trademark Claim

from the because-you-might-confuse-an-electronic-musician-with-a-cartoon-mouse dept

Apparently it's a big deadmau5 day on Techdirt. Not only do we have the story of Ferrari looking into blocking the sale of his Purrari, Disney is officially opposing his attempt to trademark his logo mousehead, which he famously wears in concert. Deadmau5 responded to this by saying "lawyer up mickey" though we're pretty sure that Mickey's been quite "lawyered up" for a long, long, long time. He further noted:

Disney thinks you might confuse an established electronic musician / performer with a cartoon mouse. That's how stupid they think you are.

— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 3, 2014

While he's right that the likelihood of confusion may not be that strong, it wouldn't actually be a surprise to see Disney win this. Disney has a big music business on its own, and Deadmau5's mouse head may be considered similar enough. I personally think it's silly, and the real likelihood that anyone thinks Deadmau5 is associated with Disney is pretty slim, but the USPTO doesn't always agree with me, and (again) "Mickey" has some powerful lawyers on his side.

Of course, it's not really a big deal if Disney succeeds here. All it would do is block Deadmau5 from having a registered trademark on the design, but that's neither necessary nor required. The real question is if Disney would go even further and attempt to block Deadmau5 from continuing to use the design. That... would be a lot more questionable.

Filed Under: deadmau5, likelihood of confusion, mouse ears, trademark
Companies: disney