Trials & Litigation
A Mickey-Mouse Error: Disney Characters Ordered to Testify
Sufferin’ succotash! An Italian court has issued court summonses to several cartoon characters, apparently a result of a Mickey-Mouse kind of error.
Tweety Bird, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and his girlfriend Daisy have all been ordered to appear Friday in a criminal counterfeiting trial, the Associated Press reports. The defendant is accused of counterfeiting Disney and Warner Bros. products.
Fiorenza Sorotto, vice president of Disney Company Italia, said the court has no jurisdiction, since the characters are not residents of Italy. “Unfortunately they cannot show up, as they are residents of Disneyland,” he told AP. “It certainly pleased us that the characters were considered real, because that’s what we try to do.”
