SSI Seeks Cancellation of Disney’s Pooh Trademarks

BURBANK, February 9: Stephen Slesinger Inc.’s (SSI)
long-running battle against The Walt Disney Company over Winnie the Pooh rights
is back in the news with the company petitioning the U.S. Patent Office to
cancel several of Disney’s trademark registrations from A.A. Milne’s classic
brand.

SSI is petitioning for the cancellation of about 25
Pooh-related names registered by Disney since 1996, according to wire reports,
claiming that Disney "was not the owner of the registered marks at the
time that these filings were made.”

Disney has moved to block the petition, according to an SEC
filing, claiming it duplicates SSI’s request from an ongoing lawsuit between
the two companies. Disney spokesman Jonathan Friedland told the AP: "This
is by no means anything more than the 'same old, same old,'" he said.

The legal battle goes back to 1991, when SSI, named after
the literary agent who bought the merchandising and other rights to Winnie the
Pooh from Milne in the 1930s, filed suit against Disney. SSI maintained it was
owed millions in unpaid royalties on Pooh content and products, after signing a
licensing agreement with Disney in 1983. SSI was looking to cancel that agreement,
citing breach of contract. The case was dismissed in 2004 but there is an
appeal pending.

Meanwhile, in 2002, Clare Milne teamed with Disney to file
suit against SSI seeking the termination of her grandfather A.A. Milne’s grant
of Pooh rights to SSI. Disney lost that case and then had to face a SSI
countersuit seeking some $2 billion in damages. The two companies are expected
to be in court again this spring.