The Phillies have filed a lawsuit against the company that created and designed the Phanatic. They apparently want to back out of an agreement made way back in 1984 to let the Phillies use the mascot forever. The company wants millions of dollars from the Phillies and have threatened to keep the team from using everyone's favorite Galapagos Islands native.
I'm not a lawyer and I've never played one one on TV. But I know a bunch of people who are lawyers and I even used to work for lawyers. But I can read. The lawsuit says the Phillies paid the "creators"more than $200,000 under licensing agreements in 1978 and 1979. But the agreement was terminated in 1984 and the creators negotiated a deal for $215,000 to give up the rights to the Phanatic, which, according to the suit, transferred the rights to the Phillies "forever."
According to the lawsuit, the company sent the Phils a letter last summer claiming they had a right to end the agreement under the Copyright Act and if the team did not negotiate a new agreement, they would not be able to continue to use the Phanatic after June 15, 2020. The suit says unless the team pays up, the creators will get an injunction making the Phanatic "a free agent." The Phils say the claims are baseless.
The Phils will use everything in their power to keep this from happening. They'll employ an army of attorneys to keep the Phanatic in Philly. But just the thought of the Phanatic-less Phillies makes me incredibly sad. The Phanatic is my spirit creature and my idol. This lawsuit stinks worse than the Phanatic himself after a 10-day homestand in the middle of the summer.
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