Thursday, September 11, 2014

Mouse vs. Mau5


Summary
From the latest CBC News article, “Deadmau5, Disney face off over “mouse ears” logo”, posted by Lauren O’Neil on September 4 2014, it can be seen that Canadian born Disc Jockey, Deadmau5, well known for his industrious style of spinning Electronic Dance Music has filed for his mouse-head mask to be trademarked in the United States. A 171 page dispute has been filed in regards to the consideration of Deadmau5’s trademark request by Disney. Disney explaining that allowing the trademark would result in reputational risk for the business globally (O’Neil, 2014).  Deadmau5 has spoken out about this challenge, and will proceed in fighting for the trademark through legal channels, “Lawyer up, Mickey.” he said (O’Neil, 2014).  The mouse head mask “is already a registered in 30 countries, including U.K., Ireland, Germany, France, Australia, and Japan” (O’Neil, 2014). Deadmau5’s counsel representative, Dina LaPolt does not understand why Disney is challenging the mouse-head as of now. It seems as if Disney is trying to bully Deadmau5 from using his signature attribute.

Opinion
In our opinion, we believe that the Disney mouse ears logo and Deadmau5’ mouse-head share a striking resemblance to each other. We believe that the challenge that Disney is imposing is understandable, and Deadmau5 should not patent his trademark in The United States. The reasons why we feel that Deadmau5 should not win this legal disagreement is because Disney is a multibillion dollar corporation that has built its foundations worldwide and is still growing. Whereas, Deadmau5 has recently expanded his image in the past ten years. Also, Disney appeals to a wider range of audiences, from toddlers to seniors, Disney has touched many people. On the contrary, Deadmau5 appeals to only a specific type of audience such as young Electronic Dance Music listeners. In an unformulated biased opinion, it may also seem as if the situation was where Deadma5 was to win, there may be a reputational risk to Disney (being a U.S. based company) losing its reserved trademark to a single Canadian Disc Jockey. We believe these differences account to the amount of support each party will get. In the end we can almost assure that the weight in argument that Disney brings will contribute to their victory.

Questions/Feedback
1) Why is Disney lashing out at Deadmau5 for his mouse-head mask as of now?
2) Would Deadmau5 benefit a possible partnership with Disney instead?
3) Would a loss for Disney ruin its overall reputation?
 
References
O’Neil, L. (2014, September, 04). Deadmau5, Disney face off over “mouse ears” logo. CBC News. Retrieved on September 12, 2014, from http://www.cbc.ca/newsblog/yourcommunity/2014/09/deadmau5-disney-face-off-over-mouse-ears-logo.html

 
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6 comments:

  1. KelseySaraSeptember 16, 2014 at 5:43 PM

    I can see that Disney is upset with the Deadmau5 mouse-head mask because it looks very similar to mickey mouse and can be mistaken for the multibillion dollar companies already created 'mickey mouse' character. I don't necessarily think that it would be beneficial for Deadmau5 to partner up with Disney because they are two completely different entities. I also believe that the Deadmau5 mask and 'mickey mouse' are different enough in visual representation that there is a clear distinction between the two and this should not even be a problem in the first place

    -Kelsey

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    1. UnknownOctober 6, 2014 at 9:55 PM

      Thanks Kelsey for the respond, but you have to admit the similarities of both logos can be mistaken by children. Do you agree?

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  2. UnknownSeptember 23, 2014 at 12:05 PM

    1) It's possible that Disney is targeting Deadmau5 now, because his music is starting to attract a wider audience. This attraction is directly associated with the mickey mouse-like logo.
    2) Deadmau5 wouldn't really benefit from a partnership with Disney because a) their target audience is entirely different and b) because their trade marks are too similar.
    3) A loss wouldn't necessarily ruin Disney's reputation because they are so widely renowned and popular especially among youth.

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    1. UnknownOctober 6, 2014 at 9:53 PM

      In response to your reply to question one, do you believe that Deadmau5's Mickey Mouse like logo is the only directed similarity?

      Delete
  3. UnknownSeptember 23, 2014 at 2:34 PM

    It is evident that Disney is upset with its rival the Deadmau5. The reason being is Deadmau5 is taking over and the resemblance of the mickey mouse logo. Deadmau5 definitely won't benefit from Disney because they are completely different from each other. Disney is known for their own aspects and Deadmau5 is known for his music.This matter should not be contributing to a problem since Disney is well-known and popular and Deadmau5 has just originated. I don't understand why Deadmau5 is beginning to become such an issue.

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    Replies
    1. UnknownOctober 6, 2014 at 9:49 PM

      The issue with Deadmau5 that Disney is having seems to be because they firmly believe that Deadmau5 will ruin the image of fantasy and imagination which all Disney fans are thrilled about.

      Delete

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