March 16, 2026
Tracie Van Auken/Imagn Images
Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that owns the Sesame Street brand and characters, is suing SeaWorld over alleged violations of the companies' licensing agreement. The federal lawsuit seeks an end to the partnership that began in 1980 with the opening of Sesame Place in Langhorne, Bucks County. Above, a Cookie Monster attraction at Sesame Place.
The owner of the Sesame Street brand is suing SeaWorld, which oversees its theme parks, over contract disputes that could end their decades-long partnership and threaten the future of Sesame Place in Bucks County.
Sesame Workshop, the New York-based nonprofit that licenses the "Sesame Street" name and characters, alleges in a federal lawsuit that SeaWorld has engaged in a retaliation campaign to weaken the brand behind the children's show. The suit claims SeaWorld delayed paying more than $11 million in royalties for the use of Sesame Street's intellectual property and failed to honor obligations that included opening a new theme park.
The suit requests that a federal judge end the licensing agreement between SeaWorld and Sesame Workshop. The parties entered their most recent deal in 2017.
“SeaWorld’s actions have harmed Sesame Workshop, wrongfully withholding royalty payments that are vital to supporting our charitable mission and undermining our ability to oversee SeaWorld’s use of our beloved characters and brand," Sesame Workshop said in a statement.
"We are aware of the lawsuit filed by Sesame Workshop and look forward to setting the record straight in court," a spokesperson for United Parks & Resorts, SeaWorld's parent company, said in a statement Monday.
Sesame Place opened for the 2026 season on Saturday and is now selling season passes. United Parks plans to reopen the Sesame Place in San Diego on March 27.
Sesame Place, the 17-acre theme park in Langhorne, opened in 1980 as the first attraction of its kind in the companies' partnership. A second Sesame Place opened in San Diego in 2022. The California park temporarily closed last year, allegedly without advance notice to Sesame Workshop, and another Sesame Street attraction was shut down at a SeaWorld park in San Antonio two years ago.
Sesame Place did not immediately respond to a request for comment about how the suit could affect the theme park's status moving forward.
United Parks owns 12 U.S. theme parks, including two Sesame Places, three SeaWorlds and two Busch Gardens locations.
Sesame Workshop alleges SeaWorld began withholding royalties for its use of the Sesame Street brand in 2022, when the relationship between the companies started unraveling. After a federal judge ordered SeaWorld to pay the royalties in an arbitration case two years ago, United Parks went "rogue" against the Sesame Street brand, the lawsuit claims.
Sesame Workshop alleges SeaWorld continues to use unapproved marketing materials for the brand in social media posts, newsletters and emails. The suit also says SeaWorld and Sesame Workshop have been at odds over a distribution agreement for the "Sesame Street" TV show, whose deal with HBO Max to air new episodes ended in December 2024. Sesame Workshop claims it negotiated a new deal with Netflix last year.
In an interview with the Philadelphia Business Journal in 2022, Visit Bucks County President Paul Bencivengo described Sesame Place as one of the county's "anchor attractions." The theme park employs more than 1,700 people during its peak season in the summer.
"While we did not want to end a partnership that has spanned 45 years, we have regrettably determined that the termination of our agreement is the only path forward,” a Sesame Workshop spokesperson said in a statement.
