Google seems to be cracking down on the use of Disney characters in AI-generated videos on YouTube after it was hit with a cease and desist letter. According to reports by and , the company removed dozens of videos featuring Deadpool, Moana, Mickey Mouse, Star Wars characters and other Disney IP as of Friday, just days after of “infringing Disney’s copyrights on a massive scale.” The letter, seen by both publications earlier this week, called out Google not just for hosting these videos on YouTube, but also for using copyrighted works to train models including Veo and Nano Banana.
Prior to this, as well as and — both of which it’s suing — over AI-related copyright infringement. But, that doesn’t mean it’s shunning AI-generated content altogether. The company on Friday that will bring Disney characters to Sora and ChatGPT, and bring AI-generated shorts from Sora to Disney+.
Disney has found itself in lawsuits after enforcing its intellectual property rights to its characters in Steamboat Willie against two companies seeking to utilize Mickey for marketing and retail purposes. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Morgan & Morgan, a U.S.-based personal injury law firm, attempted to use Steamboat Willie in a commercial, which Disney met with resistance. THR further reports that a jewelry company, Satéur, attempted to pass off merch with Steamboat Willie as official—which is where the legality gets all murky in Disney’s eyes.
Disney stands firm that despite the short being public domain, that doesn’t mean competitors can infringe on trademarks that protect its brands, which it maintains include various representations of Mickey Mouse, as the character has been iterated on for almost a century since Steamboat Willie‘s release. The lawsuit states that Disney has a history of “aggressive enforcement of intellectual property rights,” exemplified in the company’s “refusal to disclaim an intent to engage in enforcement against” Morgan & Morgan and Satéur.
Kelly Klaus, a lawyer for the complaint, was quoted in the complaint as clarifying that these companies, Satéur in particular, “infringe Disney’s continuing rights over its trademarks that identify Disney as the source of goods and services and to profit off the goodwill that Disney has built with the public over decades,” and “As Disney has stated publicly, while copyright expired on the Steamboat Willie motion picture, Mickey Mouse will continue to play a leading role as a global ambassador for Disney.”
Morgan & Morgan used the Steamboat versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in an advert that sees Mickey crash a steamboat into Minnie’s car, prompting her to call the injury firm, and at the very least discloses that the video is not associated or endorsed by Disney. Its use along with horror movies using the character in parody is one thing, but it’s another when companies attempt to pass off the character as endorsing their goods and services. Satéur, on the other hand, seems to fall into the latter category, as the THR story reports that multiple complaints by consumers have been filed to the Better Business Bureau for the shoddy accessories they were misled into buying, thinking they were official Disney products.
Before you ask, Mickey vs. Winnie is a project separate fromMickey Mouse Trap, which announced its existence during the first week of 2024 not long after Steamboat Willie-era Mickey Mouse emerged from Disney’s copyright clutches. It’s also not part of the Twisted Childhood Universe, aka the Poohniverse, from the makers of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey. This new project, which is currently in production in Michigan, is being written and directed by Glenn Douglas Packard.
A press release provides this plot synopsis: “In the 1920s, two convicts escape into a cursed forest only to be dragged and consumed into the depths of the dark forest’s muddy heart. A century later, a group of thrill-seeking friends unknowingly venture into the same woods. Their Airbnb getaway takes a horrifying turn when the convicts mutate into twisted versions of childhood icons Mickey Mouse & Winnie-The-Pooh, and emerge to terrorize them. A night of violence and gore erupts, as the group of friends battle against their now monstrous beloved childhood characters and fight to break free from the forest’s grip. In a horrific spectacle, Mickey and Winnie clash, painting the woods in a gruesome tableau of blood—a chilling testament to the curse’s insidious power.”
The basic plot sounds like another iteration of the ol’ “cabin in the woods” genre, and we’ve already pointed out that Mickey and Winnie are both becoming familiar faces in horror. However, in the press release Packard specifically notes that “the Mickey Mouse featured in our film is unlike any iteration audiences have encountered before. Our portrayal doesn’t involve characters donning basic masks. Instead, we present deeply transformed, live-action horror renditions of these iconic figures, weaving together elements of innocence and malevolence.”
So far there’s no word on when Mickey vs. Winnie might hit screens or where you’ll be able to watch it. What do you think of this latest public-domain horror project?
ORLANDO, Fl. – Led by their drum major Mickey Mouse, a brass band and trio of drum majors from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) started a procession into a ballroom at Disney Contemporary Resort. Behind them were 100 talented young people representing communities from all over the country. They are the Disney Dreamers Academy Class of 2024.
Eight of the Disney Dreamers are from the state of Georgia, with three hailing from metro Atlanta; Cameryn Polk, a senior at Elite Scholars Academy in Clayton County, Hannah Dennis, a freshman at Elite Scholars Academy, and Hollis Mason, a junior soccer player and honors student at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta.
“Each year thousands of exceptional young people apply, of all the applicants, you are the 100 Disney Dreamers chosen to be here,” Powell said. “Believe me, there’s a reason all of you are here. You have made the sacrifice to be here.”
After recognizing the dreamers’ parents and guardians in attendance, Powell asked everyone to watch a shot video about the Disney Dreamers Academy program which featured previous classes. Another video of former Disney Dreamer and current Sr. Specialist, Communications Raevon Redding giving the roll call included photos and descriptions of the career goals of members of the class of 2024.
Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
A judge of the Disney Dreamers applications, Powell spoke about reading the essays and said the process of selecting just 100 dreamers is daunting. She took a moment to thank the other judges, some of whom were in attendance during the hour-long welcome celebration.
Her co-host for the event was another former Disney Dreamer Academy (DDA), Princeton Parker. Other DDA alumni were also on hand to cheer on the latest class.
A powerful and inspiring performance of “Shadowland” from “The Lion King” by singer and actress Kissy Simmons followed. A mother of an 11-year-old daughter, a wife, and performer, Simmons’ advice to the dreamers was to “Just be grateful for what you have,” she said. “That’s the number one ingredient for life.”
When asked about the importance of mentorship, Simmons, who grew up in Floral City, Florida, a small town outside of Tampa, said she thought mentorship was important to everyone’s development, no matter their career choice and goals.
Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
“All the time you are being watched, she said. “It lets you know you are important, you are seen. So please always appreciate where you are.”
This year’s “DREAMbassador” and the grand marshall of the Disney Dreamers Academy parade is actress and singer Dara Renee. Last year’s DREAMbassador was actress and singer Halle Bailey.
Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
Later that afternoon, a parade of Disney Dreamers made their way past thousands of well-wishers and park visitors at Magical Kingdom. The dreamers held signs representing the various states that they were from, but they also held signs that read “Courage”, “Constancy”, “Curiosity”, and “Confidence.”
Jon Oliver, public-domain fan and self-appointed gadfly to powerful institutions, poked a finger in the eye of the Mouse House in a new promo for his HBO show.
“What are they gonna do, sue?” reads the poster for the show’s upcoming season premiere. Cheeky monkey!
It’s not clear whether Disney will be a target for Oliver on this season of “Last Week Tonight” or if he’s just opportunistically seizing the Steamboat Willie moment because he can. (A rep for HBO didn’t immediately respond to a request for clarification.)
For decades, Disney has been famously litigious in policing the usage of its intellectual property, including of Mickey Mouse. Disney has said that it “will continue to protect our rights in the more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright, and we will work to safeguard against consumer confusion caused by unauthorized uses of Mickey and our other iconic characters.”
If you haven’t heard, the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse is officially in the public domain, and Nightmare Forge Games wasted no time announcing a horror game starring that version of Disney’s mascot called Infestation 88. However, upon announcement, the team was met with immediate pushback regarding the game’s title and premise, with folks specifically accusing it of being an antisemitic dog whistle.
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For those that don’t know, “88” is code for “HH,” or “Heil Hitler” within the Nazi movement as H is the eighth letter in the alphabet. The game focuses on killing a monster version of Mickey and dealing with a rat infestation by using gas, and the Nazi movement has used rats as a stand-in for Jewish people in its propaganda. All of this threw up too many red flags, and Infestation 88 was immediately met with suspicion that what looked like a horror game capitalizing on Mickey’s public domain status was actually hiding something much more insidious.
In response to the criticism, Nightmare Forge Games has announced it’s changing the name to Infestation: Origins, claiming ignorance of the historical context of its name and imagery.
Prior to this announcement, the studio explained to Kotaku that 88 was initially meant to represent the game’s 1988 setting and create a symmetrical design in the logo. The studio’s statement claimed “no additional connotations are intended,” but that it was open to changing the name rather than just tweaking the logo, and it looks like that’s the direction it decided to go. It’s a very serious matter, and it’s up to each person individually to decide whether they’re satisfied with these statements, but the entire project and controversy also draw attention to a common thread among games using classic characters who enter the public domain: the opportunistic use of those characters as a way to attract attention for a shallow, schlocky premise.
Steamboat Willie Mickey hit the public domain this year and Winnie-the-Pooh entered it the year before, and it seems all anyone’s willing to put money into when these things happen is some jarring, culture-shock version of these typically wholesome characters in horror stories. If that’s as far as our imagination goes with these kinds of projects, what’s the good in giving these characters to the public in the first place?
The synopsis for the film, called Mickey’s Mouse Trap, reads: “It’s Alex’s 21st birthday, but she’s stuck at the amusement arcade on a late shift so her friends decide to surprise her, but a masked killer dressed as Mickey Mouse decides to play a game of his own with them which she must survive.”
The trailer features, yep, a person in a Mickey Mouse costume, wearing what resembles a hockey jersey without the letters, attacking a victim and stalking others inside a Chuck E. Cheese-like place (reminiscent of last year’s horror hit Five Nights at Freddy’s). There also is Scream-like self-awareness about the horror genre, including one character predicting that another is going to get killed since he says, “I’ll be right back.”
“Well, he’s dead. … If he was in a horror movie, you’d never say, I’ll be right back, because then you … don’t,” he explains.
The trailer also features the words: “A place for fun, a place for friends, a place for hunting. The mouse is out.”
The movie was directed by Jamie Bailey, who said in a statement: “We just wanted to have fun with it all. I mean it’s Steamboat Willie‘s Mickey Mouse murdering people. It’s ridiculous. We ran with it and had fun doing it and I think it shows.”
The film stars Sophie McIntosh, Callum Sywyk, Allegra Nocita, Ben Harris, Damir Kovic, Mackenzie Mills, Nick Biskupek and Simon Phillips and was produced by Paul Whitney, Mark Popejoy, Alexander Gausman and Andrew Agopsowicz, with Filmcore’s Mem Ferda co-producing.
The film does not yet have a release date, but producers are aiming for March. It’s unclear if there is a distributor on board or what platform the producers are aiming for. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out for additional details.
Mickey’s Mouse Trap follows last year’s horror film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, which was made possible after A.A. Milne’s original Winnie the Pooh entered the public domain two years ago. Pooh’s friend Tigger also enters the public domain this year.
BURBANK, CA— Threatening legal action against those using its intellectual property without permission, Disney announced Friday that it would begin cracking down on copyright infringement by people who pictured Mickey Mouse while masturbating. “All erotic fantasies featuring Mickey Mouse, whether in his current iteration or as he appears in the classic short Steamboat Willie, must be expressly sanctioned by the Walt Disney Company, otherwise you will face litigation,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger, explaining that pleasuring oneself while envisioning the iconic mouse mascot was reserved for employees of Disney, such as the company’s Imagineers and Iger himself. “If you want to attain climax to the thought of popular cartoon imagery without paying our arousal licensing fee, make it to something in the public domain like Winnie the Pooh or Krazy Kat. You’re free to let loose your most depraved self-cest and insertion fantasies on them. But not with Mickey. He’s ours.” At press time, defense lawyers reportedly responded to Iger’s threats by arguing that laughing while masturbating to the thought of Mickey Mouse was protected under parody law.
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Before we move forward, some quick background on this ongoing feud. The Reedy Creek Improvement District was established in Southern Florida in 1967. It was created because Walt Disney wanted more control of the area surrounding his then-soon-to-be-opened Walt Disney World resort. He had plans for a private city, and even after that never happened, the special district remained. Since then, Disney World hasn’t had to follow certain Florida laws, essentially giving the company its own mini-government. But after a 2022 spat between DeSantis and Disney over the company’s (tepid) support for LGBTQ rights, DeSantis used Florida House Bill 9B to restructure the district.
As part of this, he appointed a new board of directors to oversee the district. But upon showing up for its first meeting, the new board learned that, in its final hours, Disney’s outgoing board had legally given nearly all control over the district back to Disney. This greatly upset DeSantis who called the deal a “collusive and self-dealing” arrangement that “undercut Florida’s legislative process.” He also asked Florida’s authorities to investigate the situation. He was, in other words, big mad about fucking around and finding out with Disney’s lawyers.
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However, DeSantis isn’t done being mad or finished with his fight against Disney. As reported by Deadline, the Florida Commander in Chief visited Hillsdale College in Michigan on Thursday and spoke about the ongoing Disney battle, claiming that in the end he and the state would win.
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“What Disney has tried to do is they have tried to say that they should be able to operate outside the context of our constitutional system in Florida,” DeSantis said. “Now, we took this action prior to the election. We won overwhelmingly. They are not superior to the people of Florida. And so come hell or high water, we’re going to make sure that that policy of Florida carries the day, and so they can keep trying to do things, but ultimately, we’re going to win on every single issue involving Disney. I can tell you that.”
Deadline further reports that DeSantis seemed upset about media reports that Mickey Mouse’s company had “pulled one over on the state” which makes sense. When you get made a fool, you tend to not enjoy that experience. But DeSantis also suggested that legislation would “void anything” Disney’s board did before leaving. And also hinted at further punishments to levy against the company.
“Now that Disney has reopened this issue, we’re not just going to void the development agreement they tried to do, we’re going to look at things like taxes on hotels, we’re going to look at things like tolls on the roads, we’re going to look at things like developing some of the property that the district owns.”
Why DeSantis is fighting Disney and stripping it of its special district
Image: Giorgio Viera / Arturo Holmes / Kotaku (Getty Images)
And let’s be clear: DeSantis isn’t going after Disney because he suddenly became an anti-capitalist who wants to destroy the company and make it pay its fair share in taxes. No, instead, as he explained during his Michigan visit, all of this was because Disney dared to speak up mildly against his horrible, fascist laws and policies against LGTBQ and trans people, including pushing schools to out students to their parents. State leader didn’t like that one bit, adding that he didn’t want Florida to be “subsidizing woke activism.”
“We just had to look at this and say, ‘OK, do they have a quote, First Amendment right to be advocating for gender ideology in Kindergarten? Yeah, I guess. Is that honestly faithful to their fiduciary duty to their shareholders? I don’t think so. But that’s not really in my wheelhouse as governor, but what I can tell you as governor is that under no circumstances should the state of Florida be subsidizing woke activism by allowing them to have their own government. So we took it away,” DeSantis said at the time.
It’s clear that Disney and DeSantis aren’t done yet and while I hate rooting for a giant corporation like Disney, I don’t mind seeing an asshole like DeSantis keep losing over and over again. And really, the only winners in all of this are (as usual) lawyers who bill by the hour.
