Lucia Coyoca, Brad Mullins, and Alex Anfuso Mentioned in Law360 and Reuters for Successfully Defending Disney in Copyright and Trademark Dispute
MSK attorneys Lucia Coyoca, Brad Mullins, and Alexandra Anfuso were recently featured in Law360 and Reuters for securing a significant summary judgment victory on behalf of The Walt Disney Company in a copyright and trademark lawsuit alleging Disney’s ukulele-playing turtle ‘Olu Mel infringed on plaintiff's character Honu.
As Law360 reported, U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer concluded that “The undisputed facts establish that Disney’s cartoon turtle was first depicted as having blue eyes and playing a ukulele months before [plaintiff's] blue-eyed cartoon turtle even picked up his ukulele for the first time.” The judge also upheld Disney’s laches defense, highlighting plaintiff's five-year delay in filing suit after learning of the character.