Winnie the Pooh sparks rubbish war

Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger, an entertainment law firm, is representing Stephen Slesinger Inc (SSI), the original owner of the Winnie the Pooh merchandising rights, in connection with the lawsuit.

Early last week, Disney alleged that SSI had hired an ex-convict to "steal" documents from the company's office and had destroyed potential evidence. Disney's lawyers argued that on this basis, the case should be thrown out.

Astonishingly, the lawyers admitted rifling through the rubbish, but said that because the papers were in a skip, they were publicly available and "not a violation of Disney's rights".