By Blake Brittain
May 20 (Reuters) – The production company behind the classic holiday special “A Charlie Brown Christmas” filed lawsuits against the U.S. Department of the Interior, a video-game maker and others on Wednesday for allegedly using Vince Guaraldi’s iconic music from the “Peanuts” movie without permission.
Lee Mendelson Film Productions alleged in a lawsuit filed in a Washington federal court that the Interior Department used Guaraldi’s version of the Christmas carol “O Tannenbaum” in a digital holiday card last year without a license.
The company said in a complaint against GameMill Entertainment in New York that GameMill infringed its copyrights by using music in its game “Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club” that evoked Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy” and “Skating” instead of licensing the songs.
Mendelson separately sued auction house Heritage Auctions and accessory maker Buckle-Down Inc in New York for allegedly using “Linus and Lucy” in social media posts without permission.
A spokesperson for the Interior Department declined to comment. Spokespeople for the other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mendelson’s lawyer Marc Jacobson said that “the rights of creators and the protection of iconic cultural assets must be vigorously enforced.”
“A Charlie Brown Christmas,” based on Charles Schulz’s long-running “Peanuts” comic strip, premiered on U.S. television in 1965 and has since become a holiday staple. Jazz pianist Guaraldi’s soundtrack to the movie has sold more than 5 million copies in the United States.
GameMill’s 2025 video game features Charlie Brown’s dog Snoopy solving mysteries. The lawsuit said that GameMill received permission to use Peanuts characters in the game but not Guaraldi’s music.
Mendelson accused the companies and the Interior Department of copyright infringement and requested unspecified amounts of monetary damages.
The cases are Lee Mendelson Film Productions Inc v. Madcow LLC d/b/a GameMill Entertainment, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:26-cv-04192; Lee Mendelson Film Productions Inc v. Heritage Auctions Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:26-cv-04211; Lee Mendelson Film Productions Inc v. Buckle-Down Inc, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, No. 1:26-cv-03026; and Lee Mendelson Film Productions Inc v. United States, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, No. 1:26-cv-00749.
For Mendelson: Marc Jacobson of Law Offices of Marc Jacobson, Hillel Parness of Parness Law Firm, Jonathan King of Cowan Liebowitz & Latman, Paul LiCalsi of Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt
For the defendants: attorney information not yet available
(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington)
