Deadmau5 prepares for legal battle with Disney over logo

September 3, 2014

According to TMZ, Joel “Deadmau5” Zimmerman is headed for a legal battle with Disney over his mouse logo. In documents obtained by TMZ, Disney claimed, “Deadmau5's logo is too similar to their famous Mickey ears.” They are reportedly trying to block the mau5 from getting a trademark in the states, saying it “would damage its business.”

Deadmau5 already has a trademark in 30 countries, including Japan, Germany and the U.K. He applied for a U.S. trademark last year.

Dina LaPolt, the DJ’s attorney, gave a statement to Rolling Stone:

“The deadmau5 front facing mau5head is a registered trademark in 30 countries worldwide. In June of last year, deadmau5 applied to register the front facing mau5head with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Disney is now opposing the U.S. filing. Given that the mau5head and other identifying deadmau5 trademarks have been used in the U.S. and around the world for almost a decade, we wonder why Disney is only now coming after deadmau5. Our client will not be bullied by Disney and is prepared to fight to protect his rights to his property.”

The seventh Deadmau5 album, While (1<2), is out now. Read some tweets from Deadmau5 on the Disney situation:

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

landed home to some interesting news: looks like Disney officially just filed in opposition of my trademark… lawyer up mickey.

— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 3, 2014

oh, in other news.. im home! time to catch up with my cat for a minute and enjoy some timmies and ponder the finer points of trademark legal

— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 3, 2014