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LEGAL JOURNEY OF WINNIE THE POOH- FROM BEING A CHILDHOOD NOSTALGIA TO PUBLIC DOMAIN TO HORRIFIC PUBLIC NIGHTMARE

July 1, 2025

*Ms. Raksha J.P.

INTRODUCTION

Winnie the Pooh the beloved children’s cartoon character of all time has entered the public domain in January 2022 in the US after 100 years of copyright protection. This gave creators the right to reimagine the characters without asking permission or paying royalties. One notable adaptation was made in the year 2023, which was controversial. It was a horror film named Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, in which they reinterpreted the gentle and adventurous bear as a threatening and intimidating figure. This blog aims to explore the aftermath of the expiration of copyright protection and whether the controversial adaptation of Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is legal.

HONEY, WE'RE FREE! UNTANGLING HOW A 95-YEAR COPYRIGHT EXPIRATION CHANGES EVERYTHING

Works that were published in the year 1926, After a 95 Year protection, now entered the public domain on January 1, 2022 under US copyright laws. Winnie the Pooh book was originally created by A.A. Milne and was published in the year 1926, among his other works. The book gained its copyright protection upon publication. The relevant copyright laws are the 1909 Copyright act, the 1976 Copyright Act and the 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act. This makes the original illustration available for the public to use without any permission or paying royalties in the United States. Now that the story of Winnie the Pooh, a 1926 book is available in public domain the story, the narrative, the setting, the plot, the characters including the pooh, Christopher Robin, Rabbit, Roo, Piglet are all available for anyone to use. There was a subsequent adaptation from the original book notably by Disney. Disney introduced its version in the 1960s, where Winnie the Pooh was differentiated with distinct features like adding a red shirt to it. Disney’s version of Winnie the Pooh where Winnie the pooh is reimagined wearing red shirt is protected by trademark law which ensures Disney’s exclusive right to their Specific version of the character. As we know the original book is in the public domain, but its further adaptations like the Disney’s version are still protected.

THE HORRIFIC ADAPTATION OF WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY FILM’S LEGAL VIEW

The horrific film reimagined from the Winnie the Pooh book named Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey had a terrific intimidating twist on the classic beloved tale. The film was in a horror setting and portrayed the characters Pooh and piglet as antagonists. The filmmakers carefully avoided the legal liabilities by sticking to the early version of Winnie the Pooh, which is in the public domain and made sure not to use the unique features of the Disney’s version in the film. Since they used the original 1926 book’s character their adaptation is legally valid. They have used Winnie the Pooh’s original version and not the version where he wears a red t-shirt. Their move of strictly sticking only to the public domain content and avoiding trademark elements, the filmmakers managed to avoid infringement.

TRADEMARK LAWS & CHARACTER PROTECTION

The book was published in the year 1926 and comes under the 1909 copyright regime, hence it got an additional 28 year protection as it was renewed. With the 1998 Copyright Extension Act, the protection was further extended for 20 years and finally it expired at the end of the year 2021. Although copyright provides a fixed duration, on the other hand trademarks provide an infinite duration of protection on the condition they are in Continuous use and are defended. Disney protects its Winnie the Pooh version by strategically using trademark laws. In intellectual property law one single character could be protected in multiple ways not just one thing. As we know copyright Protects the narrative And Trademark safeguards the branding, using them together as layers could protect and help companies to still keep control over how their characters are being used and this could avoid situations where someone could turn your beloved characters into a nightmare. This is strategically used by Disney; they hold the control over how their characters are being used. Since Disney owns trademark over their version of pooh character wearing red shirt and the logo of it, even if the story comes into public domain after years, they still get protection over the character’s appearance and feel.

WHAT’S NEXT

Our beloved cartoon character ‘Winnie the Pooh’ came into public domain, which gave freedom to creators to reimagine and develop something creative out of it without seeking permission or paying royalty. Looking at our beloved childhood character getting reinterpreted and adapted into a film like Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey raise a serious question of how to maintain a proper balance between creative freedom and safeguarding the legacy of the original version. Especially keeping in mind that many more memorable characters are about to come into public domain and could be surprised with different versions that are unusual, its high time to think about the balance. In order to stay out of chaos, creators and advisors must have clarity on what is free to use and how some parts could still be protected by using trademark laws. Creators must come up with strategic approach and layer their protection to control how their character is been used by others like Disney did.

CONCLUSION

This example of how our beloved favourite childhood character Winnie the Pooh who is sweet, good tempered, innocent plays happily in the 100-acre woods happen to now appear in a horror movie as an antagonist with intimidating personality signifies the creative freedom after entering public domain. Although this is not what was expected, shocking and unacceptable by a lot of audience, a nightmare to many can still be legally allowed. With this we can see the change in intellectual property right over time. To do this legally the creators must understand and have clarity between copyright and trademark. Copyright only protects the work for a definite period of time and protect only the story/tale, on the other hand trademark protects the commercial use of the character and its branding. The creator should smartly avoid elements and characters with trademark protection and adhere to what is only in public domain to avoid legal issues. Looking at this we could understand that once a well-known character loses its copyright protection and enters into public domain any one can reimagine them and create something even controversial.

REFERENCES

  1. Elisabeth Bruckner, Winnie-the-Pooh’s Journey into the Public Domain, JOURNAL OF TECHNOLOGY AND INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, (April 19,2013), Winnie-the-Pooh’s Journey into the Public Domain - Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property.
  2. Donald P. Harris, Winnie-The-Pooh and Hundreds of Work in the Public Domain, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, (January 24,2022), Winnie-the-Pooh and Hundreds of Other Works Are Now In The Public Domain | Temple Now.
  3. Stephen Carlisle, “ What’s Next? Thought Pooh because I just found out I’m a Trademark Too!, NOVA SOUTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY, (January 13,2023), “What’s Next?” Thought Pooh. “Because I Just Found Out I’m a Trademark Too!” - Office of Copyright.

Author:
* Ms. Raksha J.P.,
4th Year, B.A. LL.B. IPR (Hons.) Student, Alliance University, Bengaluru.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of the Alliance Centre for Intellectual Property Rights (ACIPR) and the Centre does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.