The owner of the music used in “Peanuts” television specials has filed lawsuits against several defendants, including the Trump administration, alleging that it illegally used the tunes in social media posts and a game.
Lee Mendelson Film Productions, which owns the copyright to “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and other shows, filed the suits in federal courts in New York and Washington, D.C. Wednesday.
One lawsuit argues the Interior Department did not have permission to use pianist Vince Guaraldi’s arrangement of “O Tannenbaum” from “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in a digital holiday card posted to social media.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department told The Independent that it does not comment on litigation.
Lee Mendelson Film Productions, which is based in California, was founded by and is named for the producer who collaborated with “Peanuts” creator Charles Schulz and director Bill Melendez to create the TV specials based on Schulz’s iconic comic strip.
This began starting with “A Charlie Brown Christmas” in 1965.
Mendelson, who died in 2019, hired the jazz pianist Guaraldi to provide the mellow, often melancholy music, including “Christmas Time Is Here” and “Linus and Lucy.”
According the company’s lawyers, the suits were filed in response to persistent unfair overuse of the music online.
In a statement shared with The Associated Press, attorney Marc Jacobson said that Lee Mendelson Film Productions “will no longer tolerate companies using their property without a license, especially in this era of instant digital sharing.”
Jacobson added that “the rights of creators and the protection of iconic cultural assets must be vigorously enforced.”
Peanuts Worldwide LLC, which owns the rights to Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the other characters, is not a party in any of the lawsuits.
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