Winnie-the-Pooh Parodied In Wookie-the-Chew 58
pickens writes "Erik Hayden writes in the Atlantic that children will see endearing portraits of Chewbacca rendered in the style of "Winnie-the-Pooh" in the book of drawings "Wookie the Chew," a tribute to the combined genius of George Lucas, A.A.Milne and E.H.Sheppard, by artist James Hance released on September 1st. Samples from the book are available at Hance's web site. Hance bases his right to parody Winnie-the-Pooh on Fair Use as parody under which certain uses of copyrighted works, which would otherwise be considered infringing, are permissible. Interestingly enough, the rights to the original Winnie-the-Pooh were the subject of an 18-year feud in which Walt Disney corporation fought off a challenge to its ownership of the rights ending in 2009 when a judge in Los Angeles struck out a claim against Disney lodged by the family of Stephen Slesinger, a comic book pioneer who bought the copyright to Pooh in 1930 from the bear's British creator, A.A. Milne. Stories of Pooh's adventures were originally created by Milne in the 1920s, based on a toy bear owned by the author's son, Christopher Robin."
It's just too bad... (Score:4, Interesting)
...that although Fair Use may protect the author from LOSING a law suit, it probably won't protect him from BEING sued.
Uhhhh nooo (Score:5, Interesting)
The funny thing about the blurb is it is entirely wrong.
Disney does not own the copyright to Winnie The Pooh, but rather they have a royalty agreement with the actual copyright holder.
The court battle and disagreement stemmed from a disagreement on royalties regarding merchandise with mixed characters. (ie, Pooh and Mickey backpacks would not be counted towards revenue generated under the Pooh brand).
That is like crazy wrong.