Disney wins court battle over Pooh

THE WALT Disney company has won a 13-year court battle over the merchandising rights to Winnie the Pooh, after the judge accepted the company's rivals in the case lied and stole evidence.

Stephen Slesinger Inc, the family company suing Disney was 'dishonest and shows no remorse', Judge Charles McCoy said, dismissing the case which was launched in 1991.

He refused to address the Slesinger charges saying the case was so tainted by their behaviour that it should not go to trial.

He said family member Pati Slesinger lied on the witness stand and that her company altered confidential Disney documents stolen by a private detective.

Slesinger's lawyers failed in their duty to return privileged documents to Disney, and McCoy said he could not trust them to carry out further court orders. 'The court finds that SSI's (Slesinger's) misconduct was wilful, tactical, egregious and inexcusable,' McCoy wrote.

Literary agent Stephen Slesinger bought the US merchandising rights to Pooh from the bear's original creator, author AA Milne, in 1930.

Slesinger's family later worked with Disney to develop the character, but claims the media giant reneged on promises to pay royalties on Pooh videos and other fees.

Winnie the Pooh merchandise now brings in nearly £3bn a year.

The Slesingers say they will appeal and may even bring a new case, although legal experts said that the wording of the judgment was so harsh that an appeal was unlikely to be successful.