(PCM) EDM superstar Deadmau5 is gearing up for quite the legal battle between himself and entertainment company Disney. The fight is over the similarities between Deadmau5 aka Joel Zimmerman’s mouse ears logo and the famed Mickey Mouse logo owned by Disney.
Zimmerman brought the fight into the social media realm when he posted a series of tweets urging Disney to “lawyer up” after they filed a motion in opposition to Zimmerman’s attempt to trademark his own logo in the U.S.
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
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
Zimmerman is also filing a counterclaim against Disney, as he discovered that they were using one of his most popular tracks “Ghosts N’ Stuff” in one of the promo videos on their website. The video in question has since been removed after Zimmerman called them out on social media.
The Deadmau5 logo, which is a forward facing mouse head with large circular ears and two large eyes, is a registered trademark in over 30 countries and Zimmerman has been using the logo in the States for many years. Thus far, Disney is only opposing the U.S. trademark filing.
Zimmerman’s attorney claims they are ready for a fight to protect his intellectual property and that they will not be bullied by a large corporation such as Disney.
Disney had made no official statement in regards to situation.