Issue No. 056 · Story 01 · September 21, 2026

Buc-ee's and Mickey's Settle Mascot Trademark Case

Buc-ee's and Ohio convenience-store operator Coles IP Holdings reached a confidential settlement in a federal trademark case over Mickey's cartoon moose mascot.

§The parties reached their agreement during a settlement conference on September 15.
§Buc-ee's filed the case in February, alleging that Mickey's smiling moose mascot was confusingly similar to its beaver logo.
§Mickey's counterclaimed in April and disputed that consumers would confuse a moose with a beaver.
§The settlement terms are confidential, including whether Mickey's will change its logo.

THE TAKEAWAY

A settlement can close one brand fight without revealing how the parties valued the disputed identity. The second case in this issue shows the opposite posture: rightsholders are expanding an active copyright conflict to cover more works and a new generation of technology.

Source: Chron

Same issue

Universal and Sony File Second Copyright Suit Against Suno

Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment filed a second Massachusetts federal copyright lawsuit against Suno, alleging that its music-generation models infringed 60,202 sound recordings.