Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) prevailed on the final claims in an 18-year-old legal battle against Stephen Slesinger Inc., the publisher that sought as much as $2 billion in damages over rights to the Winnie the Pooh characters, according to Bloomberg on Tuesday.
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U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper ruled for Disney Sept. 25 on Slesinger’s remaining copyright and trademark infringement claims. Slesinger, which agreed in 1961 and again in 1983 to transfer its Pooh rights to Disney in exchange for royalties, didn’t retain any rights that Disney could infringe, the judge said.
“The unambiguous nature of the contracts is strongly supported by the conduct of the parties over the nearly 50 years of their relationship,” Cooper said. “Both parties have treated the agreements as constituting a transfer from Slesinger to Disney of all of Slesinger’s interests.”
In a 1991 lawsuit, closely held Slesinger said Disney hadn’t accurately accounted for royalties it owed for sales of Pooh merchandise.
Stephen Slesinger acquired the U.S. and Canadian rights to the characters in 1930 from author A.A. Milne, including Pooh, named for a toy bear owned by Milne’s son. After Slesinger’s death, his widow licensed the rights to Disney.
The original case, in which Slesinger sought $700 million in allegedly unpaid royalties, was thrown out in 2004 when a judge ruled the company illegally obtained evidence.
Disney, based in Burbank, California, tried unsuccessfully in 2002 to terminate Slesinger’s rights to the Pooh characters by backing a lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles by the granddaughters of Milne and illustrator Ernest Shepard.
Slesinger filed counterclaims, seeking more than $2 billion in damages for trademark and copyright infringement and royalties.
Cooper in May threw out Slesinger’s fraud and breach-of- contract claims, agreeing with Disney that the 2004 state court ruling that dismissed Slesinger’s claims for misconduct precluded the publisher from filing them in federal court.
Both sides voiced approval of the outcome.
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