Last week (Ok, maybe a little over a week ago), I took a look at the reasons why Disney chose to keep The Jungle Book's King Louie off of the sequel. This week, I'll be discussing another case sparked by Disney's refusal to pay royalty fees to creators. It all centers on Winnie the Pooh, that fat bear with a shirt that's much, much too small.
Let me sum up some the boring, legal mumbo-jumbo as best as I can: Licensor Stephen Slesinger teamed up with Pooh author A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shepard in the 1930s to expand the the characters beyond books. After Slesinger died, his wife, Shirley, granted rights for Pooh to The Walt Disney Company. This 1961 deal gave Disney all U.S. and Canadian television, merchandising, commercialization and future media rights. For this, Slesinger and Milne were to be given a percentage of the revenues created from Pooh-products worldwide. Since then, Disney bought out Milne's interest for a whopping $350 million.
Should have been that simple, right? Well, it wasn't. Disney allegedly went back on its promise to dole out certain royalties, so Shirley Slesinger is sueing. Meanwhile, Disney enlisted heirs to Pooh creator Milne and illustrator Shepard and is using them to try to gain full control of the franchise. The company is confident that by 2004, the 20-year legal battle will be over and Pooh will remain firmly in its grasp.
Who are these supposed heirs apparent? Milne's grandaughter, Clare, and Shepard's grandaughter, Minette Hunt. Disney says these heirs are taking advantage of changes in U.S. copyright laws to reclaim their rights for Pooh merchandise (Reuters estimates Disney to sell $1 billion worth every year). Then, Clare and Minette will hand the rights over to Disney.
Bonnie Eskenazi, a lawyer for Slesinger, was quoted as saying, "The Slesingers bought the rights from the Milnes, and the Milnes have no right to divest the Slesingers of those rights."
Another lawyer for the Slesinger family, Bert Fields, says, "Disney must be desperate to try such a cynical and devious scheme to get out of paying what it promised... When this scheme doesn't work, I suspect the shareholders and the public will be angry."
So Disney is once again using typical bullying big-company tactics to take advantage of the little guy. Some might feel that Clare and Minette are due some money since they are living relatives to the people behind the Winnie the Pooh books. But this isn't about them. Disney probably waved a few dollars in front of their faces and they agreed to be the guinea pigs. In the end, Disney wants full control. Normally, maybe Clare and Minette would have a leg to stand on. Why should relatives of the licensor have more say than relatives of the creator, right? But Milne sold his candyass rights to Disney a long time ago. And before that, he gave Slesinger a piece of the pie. So Slesinger's 79-year-old wife has every right to go for Mickey Mouse's throat in this situation.
I'm getting sick of all the corporations buying up everything. Creators don't have any rights anymore. If you ever want to make it big today, you have to sell your copyrights to studios or to networks. Then, once your old property becomes huge, you get kicked to the curb and watch a million-dollar company become a billion-dollar company with it.
The artists get their asses handed to them in this way constantly. I hate to deviate, but take The Simpsons, for example. Creator Matt Groening says in the latest Rolling Stone that he pitched an idea to Fox about a series based on Homer as a teenager. Fox turned it down, and Groening speculates that it's because it would be another huge series that the network didn't personally have its fingers all over. Would that show not have kicked ass? Too bad if Fox doesn't personally own some or all of it, it isn't likely to get the greenlight.
So, I'm pleased that Shirley Slesinger is taking Disney to task for unpaid royalties. In the end, I hope she wins her case like Gia Primo did with King Louie.
Chris Douvalas
Discuss this topic here.
Stay tuned to the Buzz-Wire for further news on Disney's shameless tactics in this case.
