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Supreme Court Won't See Pooh |
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Wednesday, 28 June 2006 |
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On June 26, 2006, the Supreme Court refused the case of whether the granddaughter of the creator of Winnie The Pooh can regain control of the copyright. When A.A. Milne, the creator of Pooh died, he left owndership of the copyright- not to his family, but to a trust that later became known as the Pooh Properties Trust. Claire Milne, born after her grandfather's death tried to use a 1976 copright law to end the previous licensing agreement and gain ownership of the characters.
Stephen Slesinger, Inc has had license of the characters since 1930. This group says that Disney has been paying the lawyers for Milne to help remove control from Slesinger and put it in the hands of Milne. This would in affect, result in Disney not having to give up royalty money that is owed to Slesinger. The court said that an agreement entered in 1983 between the trust, Disney, and Slesinger was designed to block the Milne family from ever regaining control of the copyright.
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