U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper dismissed a pair of copyright infringement lawsuits against Disney this week. Disney was in court in an attempte to resolve its long running dispute with the heirs of Mr. Stephen Slesinger. Mr Slesinger purchased the rights to A.A. Milne's "Winnie the Pooh" characters in 1930 and later sold them to Disney in 1961 in a deal that promised Mr. Slesinger future royalties when Pooh Bear and his friends were used in the future.
The Slesinger family started a lawsuit against Mickey and pals in 1991 when they began to feel they were getting cheated out of their part of the agreement reached with Disney in 1961. The family felt that Disney was using unfair accounting procedures to reduce the royalty payments made to the family. The disputed amount involved a discreptency of $700 million. Disney claimed that they had legally acquired the rights to Pooh in 1961 and asked the judge to put an end to the royalty payments made to Mr. Slesinger's estate.
The case started in state court as a breach of contract lawsuit, but was thrown out after 13 years of litigation because of misconduct by private investigator hired by the Slesingers. Apparently the p.i. broke into a Disney facility and stole some documents that the Slesingers planned to use to support their claims. The courts do not accept breaking and entering as a legitimate form of discovery and as a result the breach of contract lawsuit was dismissed. The only avenue left for the Slesingers was a copyright infringement lawsuit in federal court. Although Judge Cooper ruled that Disney held the rights to the loveable, pudgy bear, she said that royalty payments to the Slesingers would continue.
When I look around my house I get a sense of the value of a copyright. Without much effort I was able to find a stuffed Pooh bear and a stuffed Tigger, three childrens' books featuring Pooh and his friends, a Pooh blanket, and even a Pooh toothbrush. If my house is in any way representative of the typical home of a small child in America then this Pooh merchandising empire is a goldmine. Bloomberg News says that Pooh is Disney's single most profitable character (take that Mickey). I wish I could get ten percent of the Pooh action in my own home, so I can understand why copyright law is crucial when it comes to protecting assets like the Pooh franchise.
Here are two links to stories about the Pooh case:
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