The Phillie Phanatic revealed his offseason makeover yesterday afternoon in Clearwater and the consensus reaction to the updates was… not great.
The changes were spurred, at least in part, by ongoing litigation between the Phillies and mascot creators Wade Harrison and Bonnie Erickson.
In short, Harrison and Erickson want more money from the team.
In a post written yesterday, I dropped a link to an August 2019 video from Josh Gerben, a Washington D.C. trademark lawyer. In the video, he outlines the points of contention between the two sides.
Gerben, who is a Phillies fan, reached out this morning to share his thoughts on the changes (he wasn’t a fan) and alert me to his latest video on the case. Seems like things are getting pretty contentious:
To recap, the Phillies paid Harrison/Erickson $3,900 in the 70s for the costume, but screwed up the initial deal, so they had to cough up another $215,000 in 1984.
According to Gerben, an obscure (but relevant) provision to copyright law has possibly opened the door for the co-creators to void the previous agreement and renegotiate with the team.
Some other takeaways from Gerben on this “extraordinarily active” case:
A trial. Over The Phillie Phanatic.
Imagine the furry green guy walking into the courtroom, air-thrusting and pantsing a bunch of trademark lawyers. Just endless possibilities for entertaining theater.