Italian Court Summons Tweety, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, & Daisy

08 December 2007 

This crosses the line between funny and just plain stupid.  In Naples Italy court summons were sent to Tweety, Mickey, Donald Duck, and Daisy to testify in a counterfeiting trial.  The court accuses a Chinese man of counterfeiting Disney and Warner Brother products.

I must say that Fiorenza Sorotto, vice president of Disney Company Italia had a good answer.  She said, “Unfortunately they cannot show up, as they are residents of Disneyland.  It certainly pleased us that the characters were considered real, because that’s what we try to do.”

I have one major question.  Did no one in the court’s clerical department think it was weird to call cartoon characters to trial?  Yes, these were the characters that had counterfitted merchandise made in their likeness but that doesn’t mean they can testify.

Luckily for the court, Disney and Warner Brothers did not send these characters into the courtroom.  That would have been it’s own three-ring circus.

As amusing as I find this, I am befuddled that no one realized that they were sending court summons to a cartoon.

---