Who owns Winnie the Pooh?

• Honeybunz

  30 Jun 06, 00:52

  WASHINGTON : The US Supreme Court has declined to consider a copyright row over beloved bear character Winnie the Pooh that has snarled American courts for more than a decade.
  
  
  In 1930, British writer, A.A. Milne, creator of the pot-bellied bear, sold the North American rights to literary agent Stephen Slesinger, who already held rights to Tarzan.
  
  Slesinger's widow later agreed to negotiate the rights with the Walt Disney company, which has since made Winnie the Pooh one of its most profitable characters, through movies, books, and Pooh-imprinted products from sleeping bags to diapers.
  
  The initial 1961 agreement was renegotiated in 1983.
  
  A few years later the Slesinger family began a legal battle seeking additional royalties from Disney.
  
  Meanwhile Clare Milne, the granddaughter of Pooh's creator, denounced the 1930 transaction and sought to regain rights to her grandfather's bear, with Disney's backing.
  
  By refusing to take on Milne's case, the Supreme Court has de facto confirmed legal precedents that up to now have sided with the Slesinger family against Milne, but not against Disney.
  
  Along the same lines, the court also declined to take on a lengthy dispute between two companies over the rights to "Crusade in Europe," the World War II memoirs of former US president Dwight Eisenhower.
  
  The British author wrote the Pooh books between 1924 and 1928.
  
  When he died in 1956, he did not bequeath ownership of the copyright to his family but to the Pooh Properties Trust.
  
  His grand-daughter sought to use a 1976 copyright law to terminate the licensing agreement and recapture ownership of the copyright. – AFP/yy
  
• the Bear

  30 Jun 06, 00:53

  i always thought Disney had it.
  
  so much so that they thought of buying Clarke Quay to become a new theme park... they wanted to call it Pooh Quay
• mhcampboy

  30 Jun 06, 00:54

  Originally posted by the Bear:

  i always thought Disney had it.
  
  so much so that they thought of buying Clarke Quay to become a new theme park... they wanted to call it Pooh Quay

  HAHAHAH!!!!oh my gawd!! i cant stop laughing!! im laughing as im typing this!!!
• browniebaobao

  30 Jun 06, 00:56

  Pooh is everywhere now...
  
  went centrepoint today.. see the pooh posters etc..
  
  Singpost MyStamp also having the Pooh bear limited edition promotion.
• the Bear

  30 Jun 06, 01:00

  there was more... their superstore which would sell merchandise would be called: Pooh Quay Mart
  
  
  
  

  Originally posted by mhcampboy:

  HAHAHAH!!!!oh my gawd!! i cant stop laughing!! im laughing as im typing this!!!

• mhcampboy

  30 Jun 06, 01:01

  Originally posted by the Bear:

  there was more... their superstore which would sell merchandise would be called: Pooh Quay Mart
  
  
  
  

  i just recovered from my last laughter!! NOW U DID IT AGAIN!!!! LOL
• the Bear

  30 Jun 06, 01:02

  and they would have... Piglet grows up, still devoted to Winnie.. he'd be called.. Pooh's Boar
• mhcampboy

  30 Jun 06, 01:04

  Originally posted by the Bear:

  and they would have... Piglet grows up, still devoted to Winnie.. he'd be called.. Pooh's Boar

  erm...somehow this one i dun get it....
  
  
• mystiv

  30 Jun 06, 01:07

  what about piglet's child then?
• the Bear

  30 Jun 06, 01:09

  uhh... pooh-boar kia?
  
  

  Originally posted by mystiv:

  what about piglet's child then?

• Honeybunz

  30 Jun 06, 01:11

  
• the Bear

  30 Jun 06, 01:12

  actually, was about to write that Pooh-Boar went to buy a korean SUV, the Kia Sportage...
  
  he had it pimped out by West Coast Customs... and it became The Pooh-Boar KIA
• Ito_^

  30 Jun 06, 01:15

  Pooh is cute.
  
  its always cute.