LOS ANGELES, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. entertainment giant Walt Disney Co. has lost a court battle over the rights to the Winnie the Pooh characters held by Stephen Slesinger Inc.
A U.S. district court judge in Los Angeles ruled Disney had no grounds to challenge a licensing agreement struck with the Slesinger family.
New York literary agent Stephen Slesinger acquired the Pooh merchandising rights from author A.A. Milne in 1930. After Slesinger died, his widow struck a deal with Disney in 1961 to merchandise Pooh and his friends in exchange for royalties.
The Slesingers sued Disney in 1991, claiming the company had cheated them out of hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.
Disney sought to have a 1983 renegotiation of the Slesinger agreement with the Milne family declared invalid.
"Now that Disney's misguided claims have been dismissed, we can focus on pursuing Slesinger's claims against Disney," attorney Barry Slotnick said.
The Slesingers seek $2 billion for damages, trademark and copyright infringement, breach of contract and fraudulently underpaying royalties.
A Disney attorney downplayed the significance of the ruling.
