Mickey Mouse filed a trademark lawsuit against Donald Duck in Florida District Court this week. Yes, the case was actually filed. No, we cannot say whether Mouse’s claims are frivolous.
The complaint (.pdf) is no Mickey Mouse job. It’s written by Mouse’s lawyer, Juan Abogado of Abogado & Abogado (remember your high school Spanish?), which makes its home at 1234 Candy Cane Lane in Miami. The allegations are nothing less than shocking: Mouse contends that 1) the action arises under Trademark Protection Act , 2) that Mouse owns a trademark on something and 3) that Duck is a duck.
Duck fired back in an answer, filed by Pluto the Dog, Esq., (.pdf), that Mouse is a quack and doesn’t own the trademark, although he concedes that he is a duck. Experts say the admission may doom him at trial.
We have no idea who filed the suit. There’s also a summons (.pdf) issued to Duck in the case, and either the pranksters at Abogado forged it for a laugh, or the court has a sense of humor. It’s signed: Goofy, Deputy Clerk United States District Court.
— Zusha Elinson
It's either a joke, but more likely a test of the PACER system by the court IT folks that should have been deleted, but wasn't. Don't laugh though - IT tests have sometimes been much worse, like using people's REAL information and credit card numbers in testing commerce systems...
Posted by: David Simson | November 19, 2009 at 01:33 PM