Attn: Baeball Fans

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Zaune
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Attn: Baeball Fans

Post by Zaune »

USA Today, via Techdirt
Chicago Cubs fans wandering around Wrigleyville may enjoy seeing Jon Paul Weier dressed as “Billy Cub” — a bear with a Cubs uniform on — posing for photos and joking with passersby. Weier, who has been at it for six years, seems to enjoy it, too.

But the Cubs and Major League Baseball do not like Billy Cub. And though Weier and some fans might think the smiling bear adds to the atmosphere around Wrigley Field, the league and team contend that he’s engaging in “unabated Mascot Activities.” That apparently is an actual thing and not just an awesome potential band name. From NBC Chicago:

Citing allegations of trademark infringement, the League sent Weier a 100-plus page letter, ordering him to stop wearing the Billy Cub costume, and engaging in “unabated Mascot Activities.”

After consulting with a lawyer, he ignored it. And the next day, he said he was confronted by a Cubs executive.

“Someone came up to me, very angry, and said, ‘Did you not get our letter?’ ”

Problem was, Weier was in costume and in character at the time. And since Billy doesn’t speak, he says he just stood there, gesturing and shrugging, as the executive in question got angrier.

One more time, for emphasis: “Problem was, Weier was in costume and in character at the time. And since Billy doesn’t speak, he says he just stood there, gesturing and shrugging, as the executive in question got angrier.”

Alarmingly, neither Mr. Met nor the Phillie Phanatic has said a single word on Billy Cub’s behalf.

Also — and definitely worth noting — the Cubs claim to have received complaints from fans believing Billy to be a team-sanctioned mascot and claiming that someone in the suit has sworn at fans, used ethnic epithets and argued with patrons about tipping. Weier, who says he makes up to $400 a game from tips but invests $4,000 in the suit every season and is “not getting anything monetary” out of the pastime, says he “severed relations with the employee” who was dressed as Billy Cub on the days in question.

It’s sort of strange that a guy not interested in making money off dressing up as a bear and posing with Cubs fans for tips would have an employee at all, and Major League Baseball has a legit claim to copyright infringement, for better or worse. But the part in this video in which Weier explains how badly he’d like to be the Cubs’ official mascot is kind of heartbreaking nonetheless. Not a black-and-white world we live in, I suppose.
The article has a video as well, but I can't figure out how to embed it.
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Raw Shark
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Re: Attn: Baeball Fans

Post by Raw Shark »

The Article wrote: “Someone came up to me, very angry, and said, ‘Did you not get our letter?’ ”

Problem was, Weier was in costume and in character at the time. And since Billy doesn’t speak, he says he just stood there, gesturing and shrugging, as the executive in question got angrier.
This is the part where I cracked up.
The Article wrote:Alarmingly, neither Mr. Met nor the Phillie Phanatic has said a single word on Billy Cub’s behalf.
I don't know about Mr. Met, but the Phanatic would've just provoked the executive until he punched him out and then sued his ass off like he did with Tommy Lasorda.
The Article wrote:It’s sort of strange that a guy not interested in making money off dressing up as a bear and posing with Cubs fans for tips would have an employee at all [snip]
Bullshit. He said that he's not making money off it, not that he's not interested in making money off it. He probably tried subletting the suit so he could take a few days off while still breaking even, but the guy he found apparently turned out to be an angry drunken racist and got fired. Of course, if he is trying to make money off it, that might sort of hurt a "fair use" defense against copyright infringement.

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