The Curse of Pooh (About Disney Lawsuit, which I hope Disney loses)

"As a consequence, I think the Disney version of Pooh--both the graphics and the story--is grotesque and horrible. The same is true of Kipling's Jungle Books comparted to the Disney version. Ugh. Eisner's multicultural Mowgli is an atrocity."

Absolutely, positively agree. My granddaughters are being raised on the books -- original Milne and Kipling texts and illustrations -- not on the Disneyfied characters.

Today Disney executives act as if Pooh is as much a Disney character as Mickey himself. There's something to their sense of ownership. After all, the Pooh known throughout the world isn't the gentle stuffed bear that wanders through Milne's book; it's the merry cartoon character featured in the movies Disney continued to produce after its founder's death.

Not quite. Disney markets "Classic Pooh" which are the depictions of him in the original books.

Disney's Petrocelli refuses to entertain the notion that Shirley and Pati might have a right to feel similarly attached to Pooh. "They didn't create Winnie the Pooh," he says. "They didn't write a word. They didn't draw a picture. [Slesinger] was just a promoter trying to exploit the property in merchandise transactions."

It takes a lot of gall for a Disney Corp. flack to say this, considering that Disney Corp. lobbied for the copyright laws to be changed so that Mickey Mouse wouldn't enter the public domain a few years from now. Their entire business is built on characters created by those long gone...

Licensing. What a racket, we have everything from Miss Piggy to Mary Kate & Ashley.

Even the Disney signature itself, once the image of all that was good and wholesome in America.

Some years ago the University of Oregon adopted as it's sports teams' name, the Ducks. Hence, the mascot has been none other than Donald Duck himself, with permission from, and payment to, Disney.

Who'da thunk? Big tough football players being referred to as ducks, with that doofus Donald as the mascot character, but it has been popular, at least in these parts (as an aside, the wearer of the Duck mascot costume is sometimes a prominent local businessman who is the owner of the business where I am employed). An often used slogan has been "The Fighting Ducks".

In more recent times, Disney released a popular movie and a hockey team, both named "The Fighting Ducks".

So Disney wants Donald for themselves, but I guess Oregon is contractually permitted to use Donald as long as it wishes (and pays). Oregon has experimented with different logos and mascots looking for an opportunity to phase Donald out, but so far nothing they have tried has been well received by the public. A popular logo has emerged, a big round letter "O", but the experimental mascots to date have been rather lame.

So far nobody is suing anybody, but I suppose it's only a matter of time.

Dave in Eugene

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