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Now this is the kind of drama I have been waiting for from Major League Baseball. The NFL is a mess of controversy. The NBA is a literal soap opera. And now, now we’re finally starting to see MLB go full reality show with the Philadelphia Phillies filing a lawsuit against the company that created the team’s mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, after they threatened to make him a “free agent” – their words.
The lawsuit, which can be viewed here, is one of the best summer reads I have enjoyed in quite some time.
Harrison/Erickson Incorporated, the company the Phillies collaborated with in the 1970s to create the Phanatic, notified the team in June of 2018 that they would be terminating their current contract, which was renegotiated in 1984, if they and the team couldn’t come to a new agreement.
In the lawsuit filed by the Phillies to stop Harrison/Erickson Incorporated from canceling their contract, the team claims that in 1984 they paid Harrison/Erickson $215,000 for rights to the Phanatic costume with the transfer of those rights lasting “forever.”
All of this was suddenly threatened when The Phillies received a letter from H/E’s attorneys in June 2018 purporting to give notice of termination of the 1984 Assignment, notwithstanding H/E’s agreement that it would be “forever.”
The letter falsely claimed that H/E had “created the copyrighted character” of the Phanatic, and ignored The Phillies’ role in designing the Phanatic’s costume. The letter went on to claim that H/E had the right to terminate the 1984 Assignment under Section 203 of the Copyright Act and that, if The Phillies did not negotiate a fifth agreement with H/E, the Club would not be able to “continue to use the Phillie Phanatic” after June 15, 2020.
Since sending that letter, H/E has threatened to obtain an injunction against the Phillies’ use of the Phanatic and to “make the Phanatic a free agent” if the Club does not renegotiate the 1984 Assignment and pay H/E millions of dollars.
The 39-page lawsuit goes on to list a plethora of reasons why the Phanatic is the Phillies’ property, but the best part might be where it states, “H/E also has expressed its intention to make the Phanatic a ‘free agent’ — as soon as the purported termination takes effect — that will be sold to another sports team, in violation of The Phillies’ trademark rights.”
You can’t make this stuff, folks.
There are also a bunch of photos of the Phanatic in various outfits as well as his image on numerous promotional items.
Amazingly, there’s actually precedent for Harrison/Erickson making one of their mascots a “free agent” – and even more amazing is the fact that the Phillies themselves brought it up in the lawsuit.
In the past, H/E has made one of its mascot costumes a “free agent.” For example, H/E initially created Youppi! for the Montreal Expos. But when the Expos moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Nationals, H/E sold rights in Youppi! to the Montreal Canadiens.
Man, this whole sordid affair is triggering a bunch of bad San Diego Chicken vibes.
Frankly, I don’t know why the Phillies are so worried when the simple solution to their mascot concerns can be summed up in one simple word.