I have often wondered why University of Oregon's mascot strangely resembles Donald Duck. Since going to lawschool, I knew there had to be some kind of licensing that happened, otherwise it would clearly infringe on intellectual property rights. So, I decided to look it up.
The Duck is officially known as "Puddles." But sometime in the forties, the look of the duck began to resemble that of Mickey's playmate, Donald Duck. Walt Disney became aware of this. Leo Harris, long time friend of Walt Disney, made a hand shake deal with Mr. Disney for the licensing rights for the image of Donald, for Oregon's mascot. In 1970, corporate Disney's legal department began making noise, only to find a photo of the infamous handshake and both Mr. Harris and Mr. Disney in U of O gear. At that time, U of O entered into a licensing agreement formally which restricted the use of Donald's image. You can only purchase U of O gear with the mascot printed on it, in the state of Oregon. Any other state is limited to the big yellow "O."
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