This story broke on Friday evening and you’ve probably at least seen the headlines, if nothing else.

The Phillies recently filed a copyright lawsuit in U.S. District court, suing a group of people who say they created the Phanatic character back in the late 70s. Those folks are now apparently asking for millions from the Phils or else they will revoke usage of the mascot, which was solidified via a 1984 agreement.

That’s the short version of what’s going on, and Tuesday Sports Illustrated wrote up a story with some more background and legal analysis on the case.

Via SI:

The defendants are Bonnie Erickson, her husband Wayde Harrison and their company Harrison/Erickson. Erickson, 78, is a well-known designer of costumes and puppets. Back in the 1970s, she created Miss Piggy and other famous puppets who appeared on The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock and other shows associated with famed puppeteer Jim Henson. Erickson is also credited with creating Youppi!, the Montreal Canadians’ mascot and previously the mascot of the Montreal Expos. Harrison is a fellow puppet creator.

The Phanatic was created in 1978, after then-Phillies VP Bill Giles decided to move on from the colonial “Phil and Phyllis” mascots, which you can see here, after the jump:

Photo Credit: Worthpoint.com

Erickson and Harrison were commissioned to create the Phanatic and paid $5,900 while the Phillies were given rights to the costume for use in personal appearances and on television. The Phillies’ story is that Giles came up with the idea while Erickson and Harrison created the costume itself.

Here’s the other side of the story, also via Sports Illustrated:

Erickson clearly views herself as playing a much more instrumental role in the concept of the Phanatic than the Phillies represent in their lawsuit. Specifically, Erickson told (Noam Osband of WBUR radio):

“I think I wanted to make a shape that was going to have its own sort of character. So that if you put a performer or a human being in it, it was going to be funny just because of the way it moved . . . I took [the Phillies Phanatic slogan] as wanting to have a megaphone. So that’s where the snout for the Phanatic came from . . . And on the back, we wanted to give him a sort of logo of his own, so we gave him a five-pointed star.”

Erickson further explained that, like with the puppets she created for Henson, she produced a biography and accompanying personality for the Phanatic.

Despite earning considerable monies from the Phanatic, Harrison and Erickson were displeased with what they perceived as a lack of control over the Phillies’ enlarging use of the mascot’s likeness for merchandise. On behalf of their company, the couple sued the Phillies in 1979 for copyright infringement.

…

The Phillies and Harrison/Erickson settled the lawsuit out of court. For the next few years, they continued an arrangement whereby the team would pay Harrison/Erickson for the exclusive right to use the Phanatic.

In 1984, Harrison/Erickson assigned all of the company’s rights in the Phanatic to the Phillies for $215,000. Such an assignment was “forever.”

Right, so there’s a history here, but the real question is what happens in 2019. Is there any real possibility that the Phillies would lose control of the Phanatic? The article gets into some complicated legal language, but basically the Phils are asserting that Harrison and Erickson are breaking the “forever” assignment that was agreed upon 35 years ago. That’s one of the the six “declaratory judgments” the team is looking for from the courts.

But SI legal analyst Michael McCann seems to believe that the Phanatic will be going nowhere, summarizing the article with the following:

The litigation could play out over months, if not longer, though it probably won’t end in a trial. It’s clear the two sides have been engaged in settlement talks over the past year. Since this case would be resolvable if both sides can agree on a dollar figure, both sides know how the path to a resolution. They also settled a lawsuit once before.

If a settlement does not surface in the near future and if the case is not dismissed, both sides would become subject to pretrial discovery. As a result, Phillies executives would be called to testify and share emails and other correspondences about the Phanatic and, perhaps more importantly, the team’s considerable investment in Phanatic-inspired products and services. Given the passage of time and the lack of electronic records in the 70s and 80s, some of the key facts might depend on the reliability of human memories. At the same time, Harrison and Erickson would need to explain why their 1984 agreement did not extinguish their rights in the Phanatic.

So to recap here:

  • the Phillies say former VP Bill Giles came up with the original concept for the Phanatic
  • the Phils also say the 1984 agreement with Harrison and Erickson gives them perpetual rights
  • the defendants obviously disagree and are now looking to reclaim control of what they feel is their creation, now 35 years later (2019 is actually the first year they are allowed to try to terminate the original agreement)
  • Harrison and Erickson say they will take appropriate action if the Phillies continue to use the Phanatic after June 15th, 2020

There’s some more legal talk to dig through if you read that Sports Illustrated article, or other write ups, but experts seem to think the two sides will settle out of court.