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Credit: DisneyThe Walt Disney Company is facing yet another lawsuit, as a Hawaiian artist claims that the iconic media corporation ripped off a beloved mascot from him.
There are a great many mascots in the global network of Disney Parks, from all-time greats like Mickey Mouse and Goofy to more controversial and obscure characters that only rarely pop up to greet Guests. In this particular case, the Disney Lawsuit concerns one of the more popular characters at the Disney Vacation Club Resort, Aulani, located on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
An artist named Johnson Enos is claiming (per Reuters) that a character of his creation was stolen by the company and has filed a Disney lawsuit, demanding that a court direct the House of Mouse to stop using it and to pay him an unspecified (but likely astronomical) amount of money in damages.
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Credit: Disney
The Disney lawsuit is over the character ‘Olu Mel (formerly just ‘Olu), an anthropomorphic turtle who plays the ukelele and is part of the Duffy and Friends toyline. ‘Olu Mel has also appeared at Shanghai Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Tokyo DisneySea since he was first introduced in 2018.
According to Enos’ lawsuit, ‘Olu Mel is a rip-off of his musical sea-turtle character Honu, which he created in 2006. The Disney lawsuit specifies that ‘Olu Mel “happens to be a sea turtle with strikingly similar features to Plaintiff’s Honu. Like Honu, ‘Olu has bright blue eyes, similar spotting on the hands and feet, and plays the ukulele.”
Credit: Honu By the Sea/Johnson Enos
The Disney lawsuit goes on to say that “the two characters have phonetically similar names and Disney even subsequently changed its character’s name to “‘Olu Mel” which blatantly copies Plaintiffs’ Honu “Mele series” in which its Honu character performs a collection of songs with his ukulele.” As one might expect, Enos says that Disney is infringing on his copyright and property.
Even more damningly, Enos’ Disney lawsuit claims that he was in discussions with company representatives in 2008 to collaborate on his Honu character and that two executives attended a number of his live shows featuring the character before ‘Olu Mel was introduced in 2018.
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Furthermore, Enos says that Disney has continued to block his efforts to expand the reach of his Honu character by introducing ‘Olu Mel in Disney Parks in Asia.
As of press time, the Walt Disney Company has not commented on the lawsuit. However, considering that the House of Mouse is currently embroiled in lawsuits in Florida, California, and India, the lawyers probably have their hands full.
Does Disney’s turtle resemble Johnson Enos’? Let us know in the comments below!