The owner of music from the Peanuts franchise filed four copyright lawsuits on May 20 alleging unauthorized uses of Vince Guaraldi's compositions from A Charlie Brown Christmas and other specials.
Lee Mendelson Film Productions accused GameMill Entertainment of creating unlicensed songs that mimicked Guaraldi’s tracks for the video game Snoopy & The Great Mystery Club. The company also sued the U.S. Department of the Interior for using the song O Tannenbaum in a digital holiday card posted on social media without permission. Two additional suits target collectibles makers Buckle-Down Inc. and Heritage Auctions for using the track Linus and Lucy in promotional ads.