Pooh merchandising deal blocked

An American appeals court has denied an attempt by the granddaughter of Winnie the Pooh creator A.A. Milne to revoke the merchandising rights from a third party.

In November 2002, Clare Milne, who lives in England, notified Stephen Slesinger, the company that owns the North American merchandising rights to the Pooh characters, that she intended to reclaim all copyrights.

Milne then struck a new deal giving all rights to Walt Disney.

Disney had been locked in a long legal dispute with Slesinger over royalties.

Disney obtained the merchandising rights from Slesinger in 1961. The Slesinger estate sued Disney in 1991, saying the company had failed to pay millions of dollars of additional royalties due for Pooh videos, DVDs, computer software and other electronic products not specifically covered under its deal.

That lawsuit was dismissed last year.

Milne’s attempt to wrest the licensing rights from Slesinger and strike a new deal directly with Disney was thwarted by a federal court judge in 2003.

Milne relied on changes made in US copyright law in 1976 that gave heirs of authors the right to reclaim the creator’s copyrights after a period of years.

But a lower court ruled that A.A. Milne’s son, Christopher Robin Milne, had the chance to revoke the copyright in 1983, but chose not to. Milne instead signed a new, more lucrative, deal with SSI and Disney in 1983.

A panel of three judges from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the lower court ruling.

“Quite simply, there is no principle of logic, canon of statutory construction, or consideration of fairness that supports Clare’s reading” of the copyright law, the court ruled.

“We are very, very gratified by the court’s decision in this federal case, and protecting Pooh’s American rights,” Pati Slesinger said in a statement yesterday.

Slesinger is still pursuing a lawsuit against Disney in state court seeking to revoke Disney’s licensing rights.