As reported by Exclaim, Deadmau5 explained the situation in a series of tweets Thursday evening. They ran as follows:
anyone wanna see some complete pwnage?
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014okay mouse, http://t.co/zT7tTLffFw i never gave disney a liscene to use my track. So. we emailed you a C&D. @disney
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014The Disney link contains a 90-second video showing short clips from various Disney films with the following caption: "Enjoy a spooky cartoon Re-Micks to the tune of Deadmau5's Ghosts 'n' Stuff." Deadmau5 says he never gave Disney permission to use his music for the video:
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So now, @disney is illegally using my work... and CONFUSING people that id actualyly work with these twats.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014oh, @disney just in case you dont check your email, ill just leave this here. pic.twitter.com/I9ZSHsKlWV
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014... @disney sorry heres the second page! Have a magical fucking day! pic.twitter.com/fGQf6jMOAc
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014The two-page letter dated Sept. 4 and addressed to Disney Interactive details Deadmau5's position.
"It has recently come to our attention that Disney Interactive ("Disney") has uploaded a cartoon video featuring its Mickey Mouse character entitled 'Ghosts 'n' Stuff -- Re-Micks' (the 'Infringing Video') located at http://video.disney.com/watch/ghosts-n-stuff-re-micks-4cc34ca4636bec7bd7bd38a3 (the 'Infringing Page') has been infringing Zimmerman's copyright," a portion of the letter reads.
"Zimmerman is unaware of any license(s) between Disney and EMI, Virgin and/or Ultra granting Disney the right to synchronize the Composition with the Infringing Video or to exploit the Master in any manner or media." The letter also states Disney is using Deadmau5 trademarks without permission.
The letter goes on to demand "Disney remove or disable access to the materials indicated above and contact the undersigned regarding this matter with two (2) business days of receipt of this letter." If Disney doesn't comply "our client will be forced to pursue any and all legal or equitable remedies which our client may have against you."
Deadmau5 then added a few additional tweets regarding the situation:
lets test a theory, it takes em 10 years to oppose a trademark, lets see how long it takes em to take down a video.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014can i has trademark now? thnks.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014I wish disney wasnt such a "corperation". We could have done great things together.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 4, 2014The musician later tweeted another reason why Disney might have looked into legal proceedings against Deadmau5 regarding the logo, citing a remix album entitled "Dconstructed" issued by Walt Disney Records earlier this year. The album featured songs by Elton John and Daft Punk among others and included remixes by AVICII, U.N.K.L.E. and Armin Van Buuren among others.
why disney wants to shut my trademark down? http://t.co/BivT4fbS6L they wanna cash in on EDM too. some interesting names on there lol...
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 5, 2014And when a few people criticized Deadmau5 for previous tweets, the musician wasted little time in replying:
@ChrisZauri yes. This a jealousy thing. Not an intellectual property thing at all. Go back to bed you stupid fucking goober.
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) September 5, 2014Disney hasn't commented or issued a statement on Deadmau5's cease and desist letter.