Disney won't let Pooh go
2007-02-09 16:39
Washington - In the latest move in a long struggle with Walt Disney Co over the rights to AA Milne's Winnie the Pooh, Stephen Slesinger Inc petitioned the US Patent Office to cancel Disney's trademark registrations over the 80-year-old bear and his friends.
Disney moved immediately to block Slesinger's petition, saying in its quarterly report filed on Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission that the petition duplicated Slesinger's requests in an ongoing lawsuit between the two companies.
Stephen Slesinger Inc is a film production company named after the literary agent who bought merchandising and other rights to Winnie the Pooh from Milne in the 1930s.
The company sued Disney in 1991 claiming that the Burbank, California, media conglomerate owed it several hundred million dollars in royalties for Pooh movies and merchandise.
Slesinger also sought to cancel its 1983 licensing agreement with Disney, citing alleged contract breaches. The case was dismissed in 2004, but Slesinger is appealing the dismissal.
In 2002, Disney's entertainment unit and Milne's granddaughter filed suit against Slesinger to terminate AA Milne's grant of the Pooh rights to the literary agent and his company.
Seeking $2bn in damages
A district court ruled against Disney and Clare Milne's right to terminate Slesinger's rights, and an appeals court affirmed the district court's ruling.
In 2006, the US Supreme Court declined to hear Disney's appeal.
Slesinger filed its own countersuit to Disney and Clare Milne's suit, seeking, among other things, $2bn in damages.
The ongoing trials between Slesinger and Disney are scheduled to continue this spring.
Disney spokesperson Jonathan Friedland said the allegations in Slesinger's petition to the patent office are same they've made in their earlier case that was dismissed.
"This is by no means anything more than the 'same old, same old,"' he said.
- AP