Winnie The Pooh Character

After 18 years of dueling lawsuits, courtroom clashes and allegations of impropriety, Walt Disney Co. finally can close the storybook on its battle with the family that holds lucrative rights to Winnie the Pooh. On Friday, a federal judge ruled in favor of Disney by granting the company's motion to dismiss a copyright and trademark infringement claim brought by the family of Stephen Slesinger, who was a pioneer in the commercialization of cartoon characters. In 1930, Slesinger acquired the Pooh merchandising rights from British author A.A. Milne, who created the popular children's stories.

Walt Disney Co. is facing a new legal front in its battle over the right to the Winnie the Pooh characters. Stephen Slesinger Inc., which owns the merchandising rights to the characters and traces its stake to a 1930 agreement with Pooh creator A.A. Milne, is seeking to cancel the U.S. trademarks of 25 Pooh-related names obtained by Disney since 1996. Disney "was not the owner of the registered marks at the time that these filings were made," Slesinger said of the trademark applications.

A Beverly Hills family that has battled Walt Disney Co. for 15 years over Winnie the Pooh royalties will be allowed to keep sharing in the billion-dollar honey pot. U.S. District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper on Thursday dismissed a copyright lawsuit that sought to end Disney's obligation to pay the Slesinger family royalties for sales of Winnie the Pooh merchandise.

A federal judge Tuesday dismissed several claims against Walt Disney Co. brought by a Beverly Hills family that holds the merchandising rights to Winnie the Pooh. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper threw out three of the Slesinger family's claims in a case dealing with copyright for Winnie the Pooh. Cooper set aside the Slesingers' nine other claims, saying they should be resolved after a decision is reached in an appeal of a related state court case, which Disney won.

The two sides in the long-running royalty dispute over the Winnie the Pooh characters have ended settlement talks, ensuring that complicated federal copyright litigation will continue. Walt Disney Co., which generates about $1 billion in annual revenue from the sale of Pooh products, informed a federal magistrate last month that it would not participate in settlement talks with the family that owns the licensing rights to the characters. Attorneys representing Stephen Slesinger Inc.

Walt Disney Co. on Tuesday won an important appeals court ruling in its 16-year battle with a family that holds the lucrative merchandising rights to Winnie the Pooh. The three-judge panel upheld Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Charles W. McCoy's 2004 decision, which dismissed the state court lawsuit brought by the family of Stephen Slesinger.

The Supreme Court declined Monday to decide whether the granddaughter of A.A. Milne, the creator of Winnie the Pooh, can recapture control of the copyright for stories featuring the popular children's character. Milne wrote the Pooh books from 1924 to 1928 and granted a license to Stephen Slesinger in 1930. Slesinger, in turn, granted his rights to Stephen Slesinger Inc. The firm sublicensed certain rights to the Pooh works to Walt Disney Co.

The Walt Disney Co. has long displayed a fondness for bears -- particularly a certain hunny-loving character from the Hundred Acre Wood. Since Disney acquired the rights to A.A.

Nearly a year after winning a hard-fought battle over Winnie the Pooh royalties, Walt Disney Co. wants its longtime adversaries to pay more than $1 million in court-related costs that the Burbank-based entertainment giant incurred to prepare and present its case.

A Los Angeles County judge Monday scaled back a request by Walt Disney Co. to force its adversaries in the long-running Winnie the Pooh royalties case to pay the Burbank entertainment giant more than $1 million in court-related costs. In a tentative ruling, Superior Court Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl declined to grant the entire amount -- $1,083,057 -- that Disney was seeking from the heirs of Stephen Slesinger, who acquired the lucrative Pooh merchandising rights from author A.A. Milne in 1930.