US baseball team wins back Phanatic mascot after copyright dispute
Major League Baseball team, the Philadelphia Phillies, has won its bid to regain its Phanatic mascot after it settled a copyright dispute with the creators of the furry, green, flightless bird.
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York approved the settlement and dismissed the case on Tuesday, November 16.
The dispute emerged when the Phillies sued the mascot’s creators, Bonnie Erickson and Wayde Harrison, in 2019 to secure a declaration that the team’s copyright interest in the mascot cannot be terminated.
The background of the case dates back to the late 1970s, when then Phillies executive vice president Bill Giles developed a vision for a new Phillies mascot.
In March 1978, Giles and other Phillies staff worked with Harrison and Erickson to develop a costume for the Phanatic mascot.
In 1984, the creators terminated the 1979 licence agreement and renegotiated its deal with the club.
According to the complaint filed by the club, that agreement expressly states that the transfer of these rights is “forever.”, and that over the past four decades the club has devoted millions of dollars to developing and promoting the Phanatic.
In June 2018, the Phillies received a letter from the creators’ attorneys purporting to give notice of termination of the 1984 agreement, claiming that it had the right to terminate it under Section 203 of the Copyright Act.
The letter allegedly further stated that if the Phillies did not negotiate a fifth agreement with Erickson and Harrison, the club would not be able to “continue to use the Phillie Phanatic”.
‘Fraudulent claim’
In its complaint, the club further argued that the creators could not terminate the agreement because they had fraudulently obtained its copyright registration by representing to the Copyright Office that the Phanatic costume was “an artistic sculpture” rather than a costume.
While the financial terms of this week’s settlement remain confidential, Phillies executive vice president David Buck issued a statement confirming the latest development.
“We are so proud of the 44-year history of the Phanatic and what the character means to the organisation, to the City of Philadelphia and to Phillies fans everywhere. Our goal throughout this process was to come to an amicable solution that guaranteed the Phanatic could continue to entertain future generations of fans,” he said.
The creators of the mascot confirmed in a statement that the agreement will “ensure the return of the original Phillie Phanatic, the most beloved mascot in all of sport, to Philadelphia where he will reside permanently.”
“We are thrilled to see the original Phanatic back where he should be, in Philadelphia, for the fans of the Phillies,” they said.
The resolution follows another highly publicised settlement between the major league baseball club, the Cleveland Guardians’ of a trademark lawsuit they were facing from a Cleveland roller derby club with the same name.
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