The Muppets the Muppets film and television library. Exceptions included the "Sesame Street" characters, which were previously sold to Sesame Workshop; the "Fraggle Rock" characters, which were retained by Henson; and the distribution rights to "The Muppets Take Manhattan", "Muppets from Space", and "Kermit's Swamp Years," which were retained by Sony Pictures Entertainment. Following the acquisition, Disney formed The Muppets Holding Company (later known as The Muppets Studio), a wholly owned subsidiary responsible for managing the characters and franchise. As a result, the term "Muppet" became a legal trademark of Disney; under license from Disney, Sesame Workshop continues to use the term
The Muppets Rudman, Vogel and Peter Linz. The majority of the Muppets are designed as hand puppets, with several characters utilizing rods. Common design elements of the Muppets include wide mouths and large protruding eyes. The puppets are often molded or carved out of various types of foam and covered with any felt-like material. Muppets may represent humans; anthropomorphic characters; realistic animals; robots; extraterrestrial creatures; mythical beings; or other forms of abstract characters. The Muppets are distinguished from ventriloquist dummies, which are often animated only in the head and face, in that their arms or other features are also animated. Muppets are