Disney Sued

A newsletter publisher says it caught Mickey Mouse red-handed.

ProActive Media Inc., based in Bethesda, Md., filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday alleging that the Walt Disney Co. violated copyright law by making multiple, unauthorized copies of its newsletter, “Multimedia Wire.”

Mickey is the famous creation of Walt Disney, a company that aggressively protects its products and copyrights. But that’s not the case when it comes to another company’s property, the newsletter publisher alleged.

Disney spokesman Ken Green declined to comment.

The daily newsletter is delivered electronically to subscribers by fax and by computer e-mail. It covers, among other things, delivery of entertainment through emerging communications technology.

ProActive asserts that Disney knowingly made illegal copies of the newsletter and distributed them throughout offices in Los Angeles, Canada and elsewhere.