the times | Saturday January 1 2022 3
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known as the Mickey Mouse protection
act. With its exclusive claim to Steam-
boat Willie, the 1928 animated short
film that marked the mouse’s debut, set
to expire, Disney successfully lobbied
US lawmakers to extend copyright pro-
tection twice.
Once copyright expires, courts have
refused attempts to reinstate it. Arthur
Conan Doyle’s estate has twice failed to
assert its claim to characters in the
Sherlock Holmes books after they en-
tered the public domain in 2016.
Jenkins told Quartz, the business
website: “Will Disney try to thwart
these legal reuses in the same way the
rights holders to Sherlock Holmes,
Tarzan and Zorro did when those prop-
erties entered the public domain or will
they stick to [enforcing] the rights they
actually own? Many see this as a test
drive for what they will do when Steam-
boat Willie enters the public domain in
two years.”
Ownership of the Winnie-the-PoohNovel approach
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen’s 1813 novel has inspired
countless remakes and reimaginings,
not least the 2009 parody book
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.Dracula
Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel fully
entered the public domain in 1962.
Sherlock writers Mark Gatiss and
Steven Moffat teamed up to adapt
the story for the BBC and Netflix in
2020.A Tale of Two Cities
Many of Charles Dickens’s most
beloved novels are copyright free in
America. A Tale of Two Cities is
being developed into a TV series by
Jack Thorne, who oversaw the BBC’s
reworking of His Dark Materials.Winnie-the-Pooh has been an $80 bil-
lion golden bear for Disney over the
decades but others can now dip their
paws into the literary honey pot.
From today, American copyright law
will allow anyone to republish or adapt
work published on or before 1926 with-
out needing to pay the author’s es-
tate or seek permission.
In a rich year for literary
works, the 1923 novel
Bambi, a Life in the
Woods, by Felix Sal-
ten, the Austrian
author, is also fair
game for modern
storytellers.
But AA Milne’s
children’s book
with its honey-
guzzling bear is
perhaps the most
prized asset to en-
ter the public do-
main. The plot, dia-
logue and characters
from the 1926 novel,
Winnie-the-Pooh, as
well as EH Shepard’s ac-
companying line drawings,
will be free to use.
Jennifer Jenkins, director of Duke
University’s Center for the Study of the
Public Domain, said in a blog: “Anyone
can adapt the 1926 book into a play,
musical, or film, or write a prequel or
sequel. Want to write a story about how
Pooh and friends stay sane during a
pandemic? Now you can.”
The expired copyright does not mean
it is open season on Winnie-the-Pooh
and his friends, however.
The UK copyright remains in place
for another five years, while Tigger, the
bouncing tiger, will not enter the public
domain for another two years because
he first appeared in 1928 in The House at
Pooh Corner. Disney retains rights to
Milne’s characters under a 25-year deal
signed in 2001, while it also holds a
trademark on “Winnie-the-Pooh”.
It has reason to be protective of the
franchise, which has been worth an es-
timated $80 billion to the US company,
putting it level with Mickey Mouse in
value. Statista, the consumer data com-
pany, finds that only Pokémon and the
Japanese character Hello Kitty have
been higher grossing franchises.
Disney has used its influence to delay
public domain deadlines with a law
Pooh Bear’s money pot is opened
Inhabitants of Hundred
Acre Wood and Bambi
lose US copyright cover,
Keiran Southern and
Jake Kanter report
sion.
literary
novel
the
al-
n- rs
vel,
as
rd’s ac-
drawings,
director of DukeALAMY; GETTY IMAGESbrand is a tangled tale dating back
decades. Disney bought the rights
to the inhabitants of Hundred
Acre Wood in 1961, pay-
ing a twice-yearly roy-
alty to the Milne estate,
worth about $3 million a
year. Disney’s 2001 deal
ended this arrangement,
with the company paying a
lump sum of $350 million.
Milne’s son, Christopher
Robin Milne, died five years
before the deal and his widow,
Lesley, did not profit from the
agreement. Before he died,
Christopher sold half of his quar-
ter share of the franchise’s royal-
ties to the Royal Literary Fund, a
charity that supports writers who
have fallen on hard times.
The other half was used to set
up The Clare Milne Trust, for
their daughter who had cerebral
palsy and died in 2012. It sup-ports people with disabilities in Devon
and Cornwall.
While it is not clear what AA Mil-
ne’s direct descendants would have
made of the copyright expiring,
Lesley once claimed that Christo-
pher was no fan of Disney.
“Christopher was very anti-
Disney,” she told The Sunday
Times in 2001. “He hat-
ed what they had
done with the
books and the
characters.”
As a child
Christopher helped
inspire the franchise
when the character
was named after his ted-
dy bear. His other toys in-
cluded Piglet and Eeyore.
Disney and Curtis Brown,
the agency that handles the
Milne estate, did not respond
to requests for comment.Winnie-the-Pooh was inspired by the favourite teddy of Christopher Robin, whose father AA Milne wrote the book, for which the US copyright runs out today