Phillies at Risk of Losing Phillie Phanatic as Team’s Mascot!
THIS IS CRAZY! It’s a little confusing, but basically the company who created the Phanatic is threatening to take the Phanatic away from the Phillies as the team’s mascot.
The Philadelphia Phillies filed a lawsuit in New York federal court on Friday in an attempt to make sure the Phillie Phanatic remains the team’s mascot.
The team filed the suit against Harrison/Erickson Inc., a creative company the team worked with in the 1970s to create the Phanatic’s character and look. The Phanatic debuted in April of 1978, and has become wildly popular with the city’s sports fans, even spawning a look-alike in Atlanta.
According to the suit, the team received a notice of termination from Harrison/Erickson lawyers last June, claiming that Harrison/Erickson had created the copyrighted character of the Phanatic. The club feels the company “ignored” the Phillies’ role in designing the costume, according to the team.