Who owns the rights to what?

[Dantecat]

Who owns the rights to The Muppets:A Celebration of 30 years

 

[GelflingWaldo]

"The Muppets - A Celebration of 30 Years" is part of the Muppet Film & Television Library, which is owned by The Muppet Holding Company (a division of The Walt Disney Company). They do not own all the characters in the production, but the production itself (in its unedited form) is all Disney's to do what they want.

 

[Dantecat]

Thanks! By the way,What's their phone number,address,and e-mail So I can just e-mail them a copy in the future.

 

[BoyRaisin2]

>>Phone:
818.549.2018 (The Muppet Holding Company Office)

E-mails:
debbie.mcellan@disney.com (The Muppet Press Center)<<

Phone number, nice.

And it's "McClellan," by the way.

 

[minor muppetz]

just to make sure, disney did get the rights to all of the muppet videos series (the 1985 muppet show compilation videos, jim hensons play-along video, and muppet sing-alongs) right? or are those still owned by the video companies that released them (although if that is the case, Disney should own the sing-along videos)

 

[McFraggle]

just to make sure, disney did get the rights to all of the muppet videos series (the 1985 muppet show compilation videos, jim hensons play-along video, and muppet sing-alongs) right? or are those still owned by the video companies that released them (although if that is the case, Disney should own the sing-along videos)

I would assume that they do.

 

[minor muppetz]

Dog City

i just started to wonder something. henson still owns the Dog City episode of the Jim Henson Hour, even though Rowlf was in it. if it weren't for the fact that Dog City became a series a few years later, do you people think that Disney would have owned the Dog City special?

 

[pppapazo]

Yes, I do.

The same probably holds true for The Christmas Toy / Secret Life of Toys. Disney would probably have wanted the special but not the series.

I'm at a little bit of a loss as to why Disney didn't want/get Emmett Otter. Maybe Henson really wanted to hold onto that one.

 

[McFraggle]

It still wouldn't shock me to see Disney wind up with some of those properties on down the road. Especially the Fraggles.

 

[minor muppetz]

Recently somebody obtained a book documenting the Disney/Henson sale, and posted images on a blog (from what I can tell from a Tough Pigs forum post the blog doesn't show everythign from the book). Here's thye blog post: http://boyraisin2.blogspot.com/2013/01/disney-henson-who-owns-what.html

A number of interesting things:

• It doesn't seem to list unaired pilots or pitches, so we still don't know who owns InnerTube or The Jim Henson Hour pitch tape. It also doesn't mention the Tinkerdee pilots, and only notes Disney getting three episodes of Little Muppet Monsters, as opposed to all 13-18 episodes.
• Disney did get the rights to four of the Play-Along Videos, including Neat Stuff to Know and to Do (which I assumed Disney would have gotten but wasn't too sure). Meanwhile, Billy Bunny's Animal Songs is the only Sing-Along video Disney did not get (not surprised there, as Henson posted clips on its YouTube channel).
• Almost every production is listed by run time, and for series lists every episode and time (for some reason Sex and Violence is listed under series). The time for most TV productions is listed as either 30 or 60 (which would include commercials), but movies and video projects are pretty much listed with accurate time.
• The Muppet Video Series from Playhouse Video is listed as "Best of the Muppet Show", and all of them seem to be listed under there (it lists 10 under episodes), but it also lists "The Kermit and Piggy Story" on its own, while the others aren't individually listed.
• While it states that the buyer (Disney) will get productions with characters retained by the seller (Henson) while the seller retains certain productions with characters that the buyer obtained, the two companies should not object. But then another section does allow objection of the use of Disney-owned characters in Emmet Otter, Christmas Toy, and Donna's Day... and nothing else. I guess that explains some of the Lionsgate releases.