Did Walt Disney rip off Rene Grove in creating Mickey Mouse?

[Jules]

Some weeks ago I found this old article floating around Cartoon Brew, and it got me pretty interested:

www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/it-all-started-with-a-toy

I'm pretty undecided about the affair, but I sure hope Walt didn't rip off the makers of this toy. A lot of people in the replies seem to concerned with the name. Someone even says that the toy looks nothing like Mickey Mouse, but I disagree. One of the toy's most striking features is its pair of round (spherical, really) ears. Those type of ears are iconic for Disney's Mickey.

For some more information or further reading, I found this PDF document, which - unless I am mistaken - outlines the discussion concerning this matter in an American TV programme, apparently called 'History Detectives'. I read it very quickly (skimmed through it) and I have to admit I didn't take in much, but I urge you guys to check it out:

www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/pdf/302_mousetoy.pdf

I'd hate to start thinking of Mickey as a ripoff every time I see the 'Walt Disney Animation Studios' logo before animated Disney films. I've already become obsessed.

[akhenaten]

is cartoonbrew down? i cant access it these days

[Mr. Toad]

I have seen the PBS show. It debunked this myth. The toy was radically redone after the debut of Mickey Mouse after the debut of Mickey.

[DisneyLover27]

I have seen the PBS show. It debunked this myth. The toy was radically redone after the debut of Mickey Mouse after the debut of Mickey.

i have 2 seen this on PBS i thought that it was really cool learning about this toy.

[MK Sharp]

No, if anything Mickey and Minnie were ripped off a similar looking pair of mice who appeared in Paul Terry's Aesop's Fables series around 1927.

In 1931 Disney took out a court injunction to stop the pair of mice being used any further Aesop's Fables (now being produced by the Van Bueren studio), claiming they were plagiarising the Mickey Mouse films.

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Very roughly "most" characters of animated cartoons looked like Mickey Mouse back in the 20s. A lot more than this toy.

[2099net]

I agree with Lars' statement above. Really, Mickey Mouse has always been a rip-off of Felix the Cat to me. But Felix and Mickey aside, most characters looked the same - simple geometrc shapes in strong thick black lines and fills. And the cat character in Walt's early Alice shorts is even more like Felix. But does that mean either was a copy?

Foxy from Warner Bros is an incredible copy of Mickey Mouse - and consider who created Foxy too, Rudolf Ising form the Disney studios!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxy_%28ca ... aracter%29

[musicradio77]

I've never seen Mickey Mouse rip-offs in such a long time. But I do remember Mighty Mouse, it was a rip-off of Superman and it does have a Mickey clone, because of his profile. I've seen many of the Mighty Mouse cartoons since I was a kid when I usually saw it on TV.

It was one of Paul Terry's creation of ripping off a character of Superman, it was half Mickey, half Superman. I've seen Mickey clones in the past, but it brings back some memories of watching Mighty Mouse on TV. I missed all of the Mighty Mouse cartoons for years, but I'm glad that I saw it on YouTube and DailyMotion with all of the cartoons that I usually loved it for years including the rest of the Terrytoons that I usually loved it so much.