U.S. high court lets stand Winnie the Pooh ruling

[crazy4wdw]

U.S. high court lets stand Winnie the Pooh ruling
Mon Jun 26, 2006 5:54pm ET

LOS ANGELES, June 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ended an attempt by the granddaughter of "Winnie the Pooh" author A.A. Milne and backed by the Walt Disney Co. to strip rights to the popular children's books from the estate of long-time Pooh licensee Stephen Slesinger.

The case was filed in 2002 by Clare Milne to terminate the Slesingers' rights to the character and reassign them to Disney starting in 2004.

Slesinger's widow and daughter have been battling Disney for more than a decade over what they claim are at least $700 million in unpaid royalties from Pooh.

Disney was not a party to Clare Milne's case, but the company paid her legal expenses, according to an appeals court opinion in December.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the case and let stand decisions by two lower courts that Clare Milne could not void a 1983 agreement renewing the Slesingers' license.

A Disney spokeswoman declined comment on the litigation.

In a statement, the Slesingers said they were "gratified" by the court's decision, which "has effectively ended Disney's cynical attempt to do a legal end-run around its legal and financial obligations to the Slesinger family."

A trial judge last year dismissed the Slesingers' lawsuit against Disney, but the estate is appealing.

Retail sales of Pooh merchandise reached $5.3 billion in 2004, Disney said last year.

Stephen Slesinger, a New York television and film producer, obtained the exclusive merchandising and other rights to the Pooh works from A.A. Milne in 1930.

Slesinger and Milne's widow passed those rights to Disney in 1961 in exchange for royalties from the sale of Pooh products.

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

So now and only now they want money from Disney? Ohh brother.... But Disney won the first suit... And this one does not directly involve them right?

 

[DancingBear]

Slesingers have been getting royalties from Disney for many years. They brought suit alleging underpayment of royalties, and they may have had a claim. However, they were found to have improperly procured evidence (sifting through Disney's trash and such); that evidence was barred by sanction by the judge, and the Slesinger's underpayment claim failed. They're still collecting (and watching Disney like a hawk to make sure they get their share).

Disney tried an end-around by signing a royalty agreement with Ms. Milne, and financing Milne's attempt to void the long-standing U.S. exclusive Pooh rights license held by Slesinger. That seemed like a long shot, but if it succeeded would have been a big windfall for Disney. This decision ends that attempt by Disney, so they'll continue to pay Slesinger royalties.

 

[Tink's Tormentor]

To me, there is nothing wrong with that. Keep paying the royalties, and continue to rake in billions of dollars.