STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Makers of "Sesame Street" are protecting the brand. They sued the people behind the new Melissa McCarthy film. In "The Happytime Murders," she's a detective working with a puppet. "Sesame Street" producers complained the film features, quote, "explicit, profane, drug-using, misogynistic, violent puppets," but that's not the heart of the lawsuit. You can make a film with puppets. But can you get away with the movie's tag line - no sesame, all street? It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.