Disney owes No Royalties for “The Bare Necessities”
On Wednesday, July 21st, a California appellate court ruled that Disney does not owe royalties based on the DVD commercial release to heirs of Terry Gilkyson.
Gilkyson created the song “The Bare Necessities” for the 1967 animated film, The Jungle Book. This decision reverses a lower court’s award of more than $1 million in damages to the writer’s adult children.
Gilkyson died in 1999, and his wife Joan Gilkyson, died in 2002, leaving their estate to their three children.


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Per the 1963 contracts, Disney promised to pay Gilkyson “[a]n amount of money equal to Fifty Percent (50%) of the net amount received by our music publisher on account of licensing or other disposition of the mechanical reproduction rights in and to material so written by you.”


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The California Second Appellate District stated the 1963 contracts did not obligate Disney to pay royalties as they never charged the fees.


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Furthermore, Presiding Justice Dennis M. Perluss stated that “Wonderland had the right to permit its home entertainment affiliate to use the Gilkyson-composed songs without charging an intercompany license fee and without incurring any liability to Gilkyson or his heirs when doing so.”


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Gilkyson’s three children were not due royalty fees because Wonderland did not charge Disney’s home entertainment division use of the songs.
Disney released The Jungle Book in 1967, and is an animated musical film based on the book by Rudyard Kipling.


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Gilkyson created numerous songs for the movie. However, “The Bare Necessities” was the only song included in the film.
Gilkyson wrote six additional songs included as “extra content” in the DVD release. These songs were covered under a separate contract.


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Article Source: MetNews.com