Goodbye, Scrat! Disney loses rights to lovable ‘Ice Age’ squirrel

Although he was never one of the main characters in the film The ice AgeScrat, the squirrel who struggled to keep his acorn safe, managed to win everyone’s hearts and became a fundamental part of the saga with his peculiar scenes at the beginning and end of each tape.

However, behind the charming squirrel, there had been a dispute for years over who had the rights to the character, which ended a few days ago, since the artist who presented the character to the company in 1999 won the trademark from Disney.

Ivy Silberstein is an artist who in 2011 accused the production company Blue Sky Studios, owned by Disney, of appropriating her creation and now, after 20 years of legal battle, on January 28 she published through her Twitter account that she won his fight against studies.

I made Scrat in May 1999, it was a union of a squirrel and a rat, after seeing a similar animal in a park. So too, I brought his family to life: Crat, Sqrat and Sqroon. The company fought me over two of them at the trademark office and lost.

Drawing of Sqrat the squirrel of the ice age with his image in animation

The artist filed a lawsuit in 2002 against 20th Century Fox, a company that was bought by Disney in 2019, accusing them of copyright infringement.

In 2003, the judge ruled that both Silberstein and 20th Century Fox equally owned the rights to Scrat. However, the artist was not satisfied with the decision and decided to continue her fight.

After buying 20th Century Fox, Disney sat down with Silberstein to come to an agreement on the rights to Scrat, but the girl stuck to her decision, forcing them to relent.

Silberstein launched a campaign to fully regain ownership of his character, until on January 28, 2022, Blue Sky relented after almost two decades of legal battles.

Without #Scrat in #Disney #IceErade6. Thank you @WaltDisneyCo @abigaildisney for respecting my trademarks and Scrat, which I created on May 19, 1999. It’s been 20 years since March 2, 2002, the first movie’s release date. It has been a struggle! I win!

The battle won by this girl is a good example for all the writers and artists who are fighting with large corporations for the rights of their creations.

Let’s hope most of them need less than two decades to reap their just rewards.

Silberstein is an example of perseverance, so that others fight and obtain what rightfully belongs to them.


Source: Okchicas

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