Border Agents Seize More Than 100 Mexican Pinatas; Not Drug-Filled Pinatas -- Just Pinatas

Mexican pinatas are the latest item from south of the border on the list of things not allowed in Arizona -- at least when they're made to look like licensed Disney characters. This isn't exactly a case of asking Mickey Mouse for his "papers, please" -- Disney characters fall under intellectual property,...

By James King

June 22, 2010

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Mexican pinatas are the latest item from south of the border on the list of things not allowed in Arizona -- at least when they're made to look like licensed Disney characters.

This isn't exactly a case of asking Mickey Mouse for his "papers, please" -- Disney characters fall under intellectual property, the rights to which are owned, of course, by The Walt Disney Company.

Border agents near the Douglas port of entry seized 108 Disney-esque pinatas on their way over the border on Friday.

The pinatas were found in a tractor-trailer truck loaded with papier-mache products from Mexico on their way to Thornton, Colorado.

Border agents, probably in search of drugs, thought the pinatas seemed a bit out of place, but a search of the pinatas and the rig turned up no drugs. The pinatas, however, were seized for violating intellectual-property laws.

In a statement, assistant port Director Eli Villareal says protecting intellectual property laws "is a vital element in national security."

Al Qaeda, drug cartels, illegal immigration, and now bootleg pinatas are threatening our national security. We're doomed.

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