A less litigious age

While the media coverage of the deal that got sports commentator Al Michaels out of his contract with Disney-owned ESPN and over to NBC has understandably focused on him being traded for a cartoon character, there is an interesting question. Disney wanted the rights to "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" because Walt had drawn the character and done a bad deal with Universal Studios, now owned by NBC, which acquired the rights to Oswald. Walt knew right away that he had done a bad deal and drew a new character, Mickey Mouse, who looks a lot like Oswald. How tolerant would today's Disney be of someone developing a cartoon character that in their judgement, looked too much like one of theirs?