A U.S. District Court Judge dismissed a Disney-backed law suit in the latest chapter of the 15 year legal battle over the rights to A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh character.  Disney had been supporting the rights of the heirs of Milne and illustrator Ernest Shepard in an effort to wrest the merchandising rights to the character away from the Slesinger family, which has held them since 1930.  Winnie the Pooh is actually Disney's most popular character, which according to the L.A. Times brought in over a billion dollars a year in the 1990s.  With this kind of money involved companies are bound to employ top legal talent to present their cases so it's no surprise that this case would see a rematch of the courtroom opponents of the O.J. Simpson trial (see 'OJ Trial Attorney's in Pooh Fight').

With billions of dollars on the line, it also means that this decision won't be the end of this multi-decade legal rumble.  While this decision favors the Slesinger family and according to their attorneys opens their way to sue Disney for huge sums, the Mouse House actually won the previous round by skewering their opponents for the illegal acquisition of corporate documents pilfered from dumpsters (see 'Dumpster Diving Dick Deep Sixes Suit').