Slesinger Family Sues Disney Again Over Unpaid Pooh Royalties

The family of the late Stephen Slesinger is suing the Walt Disney Company again over unpaid royalties relating to Winnie the Pooh, even though all remaining copyright infringement claims were dismissed last September. Slesinger owned the rights to A.A. Milne's iconic silly old bear since 1930, and licensed the character to Disney in 1961 in return for a regular royalty. The lawyers for the Slesinger estate are now claiming that Disney still owes them "hundreds of millions of dollars" despite the dismissal of the earlier case and the dismissal of an even earlier case over unpaid Pooh royalties that was thrown out of court in 2004 after it was discovered that investigators for the Slesinger family had stolen confidential Disney documents by searching dumpsters and garbage bins from Disney offices.

A spokeswoman for Disney described the new lawsuit as "baffling," stating that the questions over rights and royalties had been resolved in the dismissal of the remaining copyright claims in September.