Lee Mendelson Movie Productions has reached a licensing settlement with CBS for using Vince Guaraldi‘s Linus and Lucy on the ultimate broadcast of The Late Present with Stephen Colbert.
The finale aired on Could 21, in the future after Lee Mendelson Movie Productions (LMFP) had individually filed 4 copyright infringement lawsuits in federal courts, concentrating on online game writer GameMill Leisure, public sale home Heritage Auctions, equipment producer Buckle-Down Inc., and the U.S. Division of the Inside.
Through the finale, bandleader Louis Cato and the Nice Huge Pleasure Machine carried out Linus and Lucy whereas Stephen Colbert mentioned LMFP‘s enforcement actions towards these defendants.
Because the band performed, Colbert joked: “Oh no! I hope this doesn’t value CBS any cash!”
Seperately, the fits, filed on Could 20 in New York and Washington, D.C., allege a sample of unauthorized industrial use of Guaraldi‘s compositions – in sport soundtracks, social media promoting, and a authorities vacation card.
“The lawsuits are meant to halt a sample of infringement that threatens to decrease the integrity of those protected works, the Guaraldi music legacy, and different cherished inventive content material susceptible to misuse within the trendy media panorama,” LMFP mentioned in a press release about its enforcement marketing campaign.
The proceeds from the CBS settlement will probably be donated to World Central Kitchen, which gives meals to communities affected by pure disasters and civil unrest.
Jason Mendelson, Chairman of LMFP, addressed the Late Present case particularly in a press release launched on Tuesday (June 16) alongside the licensing settlement.
“LMFP discovered the music’s use on The Late Present humorous and entertaining, and is proud to help World Central Kitchen‘s mission,” mentioned Mendelson.
“A principal aim of our enforcement actions is to coach people, companies, and authorities entities about the necessity to receive written license agreements to make use of music in a industrial setting,” Mendelson added.
“A principal aim of our enforcement actions is to coach people, companies, and authorities entities about the necessity to receive written license agreements to make use of music in a industrial setting.”
Jason Mendelson, Lee Mendelson Movie Productions
On the penultimate episode of The Late Present, the present and Colbert had donated $2.5 million to WCK, presenting the reward to the charity’s founder, Chef José Andrés.
The monetary phrases of the CBS licensing settlement haven’t been disclosed.
The Could 21 finale marked the tip of a franchise CBS had introduced it could retire. The community introduced in July 2025 that it could not exchange Colbert – describing the choice as “purely a monetary resolution towards a difficult backdrop in late night time.”
Lee Mendelson Movie Productions was based in 1963 by the late Lee Mendelson, who died on December 25, 2019.
The corporate is the writer of Guaraldi‘s musical catalog and the producer of the Peanuts tv specials, together with A Charlie Brown Christmas, first broadcast in 1965.
In keeping with LMFP, the corporate has acquired 11 Emmy Awards from 45 nominations, together with 4 Peabody Awards.
The LMFP fits kind a part of a broader wave of copyright litigation concentrating on the unauthorized use of music in social media posts and industrial settings. Warner Music Group sued retail chain DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse in Could 2025, alleging infringement of greater than 200 works in TikTok and Instagram posts.
The character rights to the Peanuts universe are held by Peanuts Worldwide LLC – which was lately majority-acquired by Sony – and are distinct from the Guaraldi music catalog managed by LMFP. Peanuts Worldwide was not a celebration to any of the 4 LMFP lawsuits.Music Enterprise Worldwide
