Winnie the Pooh - Public Domain v Trademark Ownership 


Brett Trout Esq. has written a terrific blog post on Public Domain v. Trademark Rights in a very funny article about Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne:


https://blawgit.com/2022/01/22/who-owns-the-pooh/


In part, he states:


As of January 1, 2022 Winnie the Pooh entered the public domain. But what does that mean? 

Can you write a book about Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too? No. 
Can you sell Winnie the Pooh branded socks? No. 
Can you start a Winnie the Pooh comic strip? Probably not. 

But why? The answer is that although the original copyright in Winnie the Pooh has moved into the public domain, the copyrights in all of his friends and all of the books published after 1926 are still in force. More importantly, all of the trademarks covering Winnie the Pooh goods and services are still in force and may never expire. 


Id.

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