Hamas, the Islamist terror organization that conquered Gaza from the Palestinian Authority, featured a black-and-white mouse named ‘Farfour’ that looked strikingly like Disney’s Mickey Mouse, in an educational program for young children.
Farfour taught mainstream Islamist values such as regular prayer in mosques, the superiority of Islam and his hopes it would one day rule the world, hatred of Israel and America and support for the popular resistance. He also taught about the importance of drinking milk.
In response to International outcry regarding the blatant moral and copyright infringements, Hamas transmitted a special episode of the program, where Farfour was beaten to death by an actor dressed as an Israeli security officer.
I could contrast the approach of Hamas and that of Israel to copyright infringement, where years ago, the Israel Supreme Court recognized unauthorized usage of Donald Duck as being copyright infringement. I could also point out that Mickey Mouse is old enough to properly be in the public domain, with the trademark protection used to make the character immortal, being dubious at best.
The Israeli consulate in Los Angeles, California has appealed to the Disney Corporation requesting that they ascertain whether there is a case of copyright infringement. I consider this development as symptomatic of Israel’s whole mishandling of the situation from the destruction of Jewish communities in Gaza, arming the PLO, failing to predict the Hamas takeover, and not protecting Negev towns from Hamas missiles. Israel needs reality based policies and not some Mickey Mouse knee-jerk response.
Yes but should the trademark protection be used to keep the character moral?