Disney Loses Round in Pooh Royalty Feud

A Los Angeles judge Tuesday said he wanted to reconsider an independent auditor’s report that Walt Disney Co. had almost fully paid for rights to the Winnie the Pooh character despite a licensor’s allegations of millions of dollars in underpayments. In his tentative ruling, Superior Court Judge Ernest Hiroshige questioned the finding that Disney owed Stephen Slesinger Inc. just $11,000 in royalties stemming from a 1983 licensing agreement, Slesinger attorney Bonnie Eskenazi said. Disney’s lead attorney called Hiroshige’s tentative ruling “a split decision” and said Disney was ready to argue its case yet again.