Phillie Phanatic Can Remain As Team Mascot, Judge Rules

PHILADELPHIA — The fate of the Phillie Phanatic is secure for now following a judge's ruling in a case surrounding changes to the mascot's looks.

According to NBC10, the Phanatic's creators — Bonnie Erickson and Wayde Harrison — sued the team for changing his looks.

However, a federal judge ruled recently ruled the changes were enough to allow the team to keep the Phanatic on board.

The changes included longer arms, stars around his eyes, a blue tail, scales under his arms, new red shoes with the Liberty Bell on them, and a bigger butt and were debuted during 2020 spring training games.

It all stemmed from the end of a 35-year copyright agreement between the Phillies and Erickson and Harrison. The team and the creators filed opposing lawsuits.

The pair created the Phanatic in 1978 and wanted to renegotiate a contract struck with the team in 1984 and are threatened to turn him into a "free agent."

The team said it's equally responsible for the Phanatic's popularity as the creators are.

According to ESPN, the judge cited a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court decision to determine the new look was different enough to keep using the Phanatic as the team's mascot

"To be sure, the changes to the structural shape of the Phanatic are no great strokes of brilliance," she wrote. "But as the Supreme Court has already noted, a compilation of minimally creative elements, ‘no matter how crude, humble or obvious,’ can render a work a derivative."

Erickson and Harrison are planning to continue fighting in court.