Review of "The Pirates and the Mouse: Disney's War Against the Counterculture" by Bob Levin

In 1963, Dan O'Neil made his debut in the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle. Dan was the youngest syndicated comic artist in the country. It was the time of the 60's Counter Culture revolution. O'Neil took on the Walt Disney Empire and boldly used the famous mouse as a villain in his comic strips. This brought on a large lawsuit when the Disney Company accused O'Neil of copyright infringement and theft of trademark. O'Neil and his pals, who called themselves "Pirates," published comic books that showed the Disney characters doing very un-Disney-like things. The Pirates worked in a building that was owned by Francis Ford Coppola. Both sides had major law firms representing them. The litigation went on for some ten years moving all the way up to the Supreme Court.

The whole story is told by this author in a slightly humorous way, but covers every aspect of this famous case. Disney fan or not, this is a book you will enjoy because it was an historic time and involves interesting First Amendment issues.