One of our awesome, observant readers sent the following message:
Hi, I have been searching on ebay UK for Mickey Mouse merchandise and came across this ‘cd clock’ in a sellers ‘Animated clocks’ section, which I like, but feel it is possibly not official merchandise ? Please can you confirm or not, if it is, I shall purchase one.
Item no : 260651807916
Seller id : *o*krazydaisy*o*
Seller shop : Krazy Daisy
The Disney Copyright Violations crack research team (me) intensely investigated this item (we spent a couple minutes looking at UK eBay and a couple pages on the Krazy Daisy web site), and saw no evidence that this was an official Disney product. Rather, it appears to us to be a depressing abuse of our beloved Mickey Mouse, a creature so kind, caring, and loving that he would never do anything to harm even a single hair on another living being (except for in some of his early black-and-white work, but he was young then and needed the money).
So what is the tragedy here? That Mickey’s chest has been perforated by clockwork? That he is depicted without his beloved “©Disney” text? Or that the green kind of makes us think of seasickness? That is not for us to say.
What is for us to say is that if we’re totally wrong and this is indeed official Disney merchandise, we’re sorry. (It’s still ugly, though.)
Not A. Lawyer Other clock, Mickey Mouse
On The Soup on July 2, 2010, they were discussing some television show about artists, and one of the artists presented this as his latest work:
What kind of horrible twisting of purity is this? It’s like an H.R. Giger Disneyland acid-flashback nightmare! I tell you this, when the time comes that my official portrait must be made, I’m certainly not letting this nut paint it!
Not A. Lawyer Artwork
We all know — and love! — mater, the simple tow truck from Disney/Pixar’s Cars with the funny accent and the “Git ‘er done!” attitude. That is why when one of our readers spotted this copyright-violating painting on a roll-up garage door in her neighborhood, she just had to warn us about it. “This is found on the side of a building in my city of Winder, Ga.,” she said, her words practically dripping with the despair I can only imagine she felt. Working up the strength to go on she continued, “I think it’s some kind of car shop.”
And, if that were not enough, she also wrote a long, heart-felt blog post about the horrible, horrible situation. I suggest you get a warm cup of tea and a china plate of comforting cookies before sitting in a comfy chair and reading her post in its entirety.
Not A. Lawyer Places Mater
Despite what this Web site would have you believe, tales of Winnie the Pooh meeting up with the alien from Alien are completely epocriphal apoohcrafil false. Creating this hybrid “entertainment” is clearly a violation of copious copyrights, and we have no more time for it than we had for Beauty and the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, Fantasia 2001, or Snow White and the 12 Angry Men.
Not A. Lawyer Websites alien, Winnie the Pooh
Here’s another one found by our fabulous readers, a cake shop in some far-off foreign land that specializes in creating photorealistic reproductions of licensed characters. It looks gorgeous, but right off you know there’s something wrong. Sure Tigger’s color and general shape and proportions are approximately correct, but where is the “© Disney” that always lovingly adorns this precious symbol of youth? Nowhere to be found, that’s where!
Adding to the insult, I hate to think of the horrible use to which this (probably delicious) product will be put. Can you just imagine the party when this creation is unboxed? There would be a gaggle of children cheering at the appearance of their beloved friend from the Hundred Acre Woods, but their cheers would turn to horrified screams when it was revealed that Tigger was there not to frolic and play, but to be grotesquely carved into chunks and served upon paper plates with ice cream and a side of callous disregard for all that is decent!
Not A. Lawyer Other Tigger
One of our loyal readers passed along to us this logo being used by an online newspaper. I don’t know what bothers me more about this — the blatant use of Disney’s precious font in the word “daily” or the callous intermingling of Toy Story and Wizard of Oz copyright and trademarked imagery.
If we allow such things to go on, what next? Bug’s Life mixed with The Ten Commandments? The Incredibles and Gone with the Wind? Casablanca and Tron? The possibilities are just too horrible to imagine.
Not A. Lawyer Websites Toy Story, Wizard of Oz
NOOOOOOH! Please, please, tell me that the other side of the car doesn’t have Piglet with a bazooka.
(Found on the You Drive What? blog)
Not A. Lawyer Other Pooh
The Daily Show showcased this MSNBC violation of our beloved Woodie! Not only is the poor cowboy forced to perform in a demonstration of political bias (when we all know that he is strongly apolitical), but his signature hat has been removed, and — adding the ultimate insult — he has clearly been duplicated using illegal cloning technology!
Not A. Lawyer Television Woodie
An anonymous DCV visitor writes: “Superior Concierge in Kissimmee has purchased a Mickey costume and is appearing at local resorts such as Emerald Island and Terra Verde as seen in the newsletter attached.”
Let’s take a look at a photo and some text from the newsletter to see what’s going on here…
That certainly looks like Mickey Mouse to us, and we suppose that it could be a violation if Disney’s beloved mascot is being used to promote this particular enterprise, but we don’t want to jump to any conclusions. Who knows — perhaps Mickey is a member of the homeowner’s association and just wanted to spend some time with friends? Or he might have been in the area and heard that there was a free breakfast to be had? Or maybe Disney rents Mickey out for functions like this when there are slow days in the park? Maybe the mouse is just moonlighting to earn some extra cash so he can buy a ring and finally ask Minnie to marry him?
Then again, the newsletter says that other prominent Florida attractions (Pirates Adventure Dinner Show, Boggy Creek Airboat Rides, Gatorland, and others) were in attendance to promote their businesses, so maybe Disney just wanted to make sure they were numbered among their peers?
So, without additional information and thousands of dollars in legal fees we can’t definitively call this a violation. Of course, if it is, we certainly hope that those responsible will suffer the agonies of eternal hellfire for leaving the false impression that our beloved Mickey himself supports their business.
Not A. Lawyer Other Mickey Mouse
This photo was posted on the Picture is Unrelated blog. I think it’s supposed to be Mickey Mouse from the Star Trek mirror universe, but since Disney’s copyrights have jurisdiction in all possible worlds, this is a horrifying violation, no matter what universe it is in!
Not A. Lawyer Other Mickey Mouse