{"id":10740,"date":"2026-05-20T21:03:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/charlie-brown-christmas-songs-owner-sues\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T21:03:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T21:03:25","slug":"charlie-brown-christmas-songs-owner-sues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/charlie-brown-christmas-songs-owner-sues\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ Songs Owner Sues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n\tThe owner of the Peanuts<\/em> theme song and other music from the Charlie Brown franchise is going on the legal offensive, filing four copyright lawsuits Wednesday (May 20) over alleged unauthorized uses of Vince Guaraldi\u2018s iconic jazz tracks.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn one case, Lee Mendelson Film Productions (LMFP) accused a video game company called GameMill Entertainment of creating unlicensed songs that \u201cmimicked and evoked\u201d Guaraldi\u2019s songs for an otherwise-licensed Peanuts<\/em> game.<\/p>\n

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\n\tIn another case, the company accused the U.S. Department of the Interior of directly using Guaraldi\u2019s \u201cO Tannenbaum\u201d from the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/em> in a digital holiday card without paying for it.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cUnauthorized use doesn\u2019t just violate the law, it erodes the exclusivity and artistic integrity that make these compositions meaningful to generations of fans,\u201d said Mendelson attorney Marc Jacobson<\/strong>, who added that the company will \u201cno longer tolerate companies using their property without a license, especially in this era of instant digital sharing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTwo more lawsuits, filed against collectibles manufacturers Buckle\u2011Down Inc. and Heritage Auctions, claim those companies used Peanuts<\/em> songs, including the unofficial franchise theme \u201cLinus and Lucy,\u201d in promotional social media advertisements.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe composition is an iconic theme, associated with a beloved children\u2019s series and television Christmas classic special,\u201d Mendelson\u2019s lawyers write. \u201cIt is widely familiar to the American public as one of the most popular works of television music of all time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe original Peanuts<\/em> comic strip was created by Charles M. Schulz in 1950, but the famous television specials were a joint project of Schultz, TV producer Lee Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez. Starting with Christmas<\/em> and It\u2019s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown<\/em>, the trio produced dozens of Peanuts<\/em> specials, many of them scored by Guaraldi.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe rights to Guaraldi\u2019s music are still held by the late Mendelson\u2019s company, and they aren\u2019t afraid to enforce them. In 2019, LMFP filed a similar copyright case against Dolly Parton\u2019s Dollywood theme park over accusations that it had used Peanuts<\/em> songs in Christmas-themed theatrical productions for years.<\/p>\n

\n\tWednesday\u2019s lawsuit against GameMill is centered on Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club<\/em>, a video game starring Charlie \u200bBrown\u2019s dog Snoopy. GameMill properly licensed the Peanuts<\/em> characters themselves \u2014 those rights are owned by a different company \u2014 but the lawsuit says it took a shortcut when it came to the music: Creating knockoff tracks that sounded highly similar to the originals.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cGameMill self-evidently wanted the Peanuts imagery in the [Snoopy] game to be paired with the Peanuts music, but, equally self-evidently, did not want to pay plaintiff for rights to use it,\u201d LMFP\u2019s attorneys write in that complaint.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe case against the Department of the Interior, meanwhile, claims that the federal agency used \u201cTannenbaum\u201d in an animated Christmas card posted to Instagram, X and other social media sites. \u201cThe card was viewed millions of times on many platforms,\u201d reads that complaint.<\/p>\n

\n\tNone of the defendants immediately returned requests for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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