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    Morgan & Morgan sues Disney to use “Steamboat Willie” in law firm ads

    By SHOOTNo Comments139 Views
    Walt Disney, creator of Mickey Mouse, poses at the Pancoast Hotel in Miami, Fla., on Aug. 13, 1941. (AP Photo, File)

    By Mike Schneider

    ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) --

    Is Steamboat Willie “For the people?”

    That’s a question that one of the largest personal injury law firms in the United States is asking a federal court in central Florida to decide.

    The law firm Morgan & Morgan, known for its tagline, “For the people,” in its ubiquitous television commercials, sued Disney on Wednesday in an effort to get a ruling that would allow it to use “Steamboat Willie” in advertisements. “Steamboat Willie” was a groundbreaking 1928 animated short film directed by Walt Disney in which Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse made their first public appearances.

    The law firm said that the U.S. copyright expired last year for “Steamboat Willie,” which was a lodestar for U.S. film animation at the time, and that it had reached out to Disney to make sure the entertainment company wouldn’t sue them if they used images from the animated film for their TV and online ads. Disney’s lawyers responded by saying they didn’t offer legal advice to third parties, according to the lawsuit.

    Morgan & Morgan said it was filing the lawsuit to get a decision because it otherwise feared being sued by Disney for trademark infringement if it used “Steamboat Willie.”

    Disney didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.

    In the black-and-white animated ad that Morgan & Morgan wants to air, a voiceover announcer starts and ends the commercial by saying that Disney didn’t approve or authorize the advertisement. The ad shows Mickey captaining a boat on land that crashes into a car driven by Minnie, who then pulls out her phone and contacts the law firm.

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    Tags:copyright lawDisneyMorgan & MorganSteamboat Willie



    Golden Globes draw 8.7M viewers, a nearly 7% dip from 2025

    Wednesday, January 14, 2026
    This image released by CBS Broadcasting shows Sara Murphy, foreground left, appearing with writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, foreground right, and other cast members, as well as presenter Julia Roberts, right, as they accept the award for best motion picture - musical or comedy for "One Battle After Another" during the 83rd Golden Globes on Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Kevork Djansezian/CBS Broadcasting via AP)

    An audience of 8.7 million viewers watched the Golden Globes on Sunday, according to Nielsen, a decline of almost 7% from the year prior.

    Sunday's telecast on CBS, hosted by Nikki Glaser, didn't quite reach the viewership levels of the two previous Globes on CBS. In the network's first year with the award show, the broadcast was watched by 9.4 million. Last year, 9.3 million tuned in to the show, also hosted by Glaser.

    CBS and the Golden Globes in 2024 signed a five-year deal to broadcast the annual ceremony following years on NBC. After a diversity and ethics scandal led NBC to drop the Globes, the show was sold to the Penske Media-owned Dick Clark Productions and Todd Boehly's Eldridge Industries. Back in the late 2010s, the Globes typically drew close to 20 million viewers.

    On Sunday night, when "One Battle After Another" and "Hamnet" took top honors, many more were watching football. NBC's telecast of the Chargers-Patriots playoff game averaged 28.9 million viewers, according to Nielsen.

    CBS touted social engagement for the Globes, calling it the "most social ever," with 42 million interactions (up 5% from the year before), according to Social Content Ratings. More than 14 million watched Glaser's monologue across Globes social platforms in the first 36 hours.

    Paramount Skydance, CBS' parent company, on Monday filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. Discovery and chief executive David Zaslav as part of its hostile takeover bid for the studio. Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery's board determined Paramount's offer is not in the best interests of the company or its shareholders, and it again recommended shareholders support the Netflix deal.

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