Blame Disney.
They didn’t renew the copyright on these characters.
Probably “too white” and “too male” of a story for them to do so now.
Well, we know Xi doesn’t like comparisons to Pooh!
Copyright periods are too long anyway. Initially, they were for seven years. Then they were extended to 14 years.
Around 1909 they were extended again to 28 years, renewable for another 28.
In 1972 they were extended to, I think, life of the author plus something, or 75 years for hired work.
In the 1990s they were extended yet again to nearly a century.
Public domain is a good thing. Copyright terms should be shorter.
You can’t blame Disney for this, they could not renew the copyright on the original Winnie the Pooh. They did not own it. It was owned by the Estate of A.A. Milne. The copy right was never renewable and is expired.
After 95 years (which is too long), the original Winnie the Pooh story is in the public domain.
Anyone can do anything they want with the original characters.
Winnie the Pooh was not originally a Disney work. It is now in the public domain.
Disney can copyright their own works and depictions of him and the characters but not the characters themselves.