Children of the late Terry Gilkyson, a folk singer and composer, plead with a California appeals court Thursday to revive their lawsuit against two factions of the Walt Disney Company. The plaintiffs claim Disney owes the estate years of royalties due to their father’s deal with the company — Gilkyson wrote the “Bare Necessities” song for the 1967 movie classic, The Jungle Book.
Gilkyson’s heirs commenced the lawsuit in Texas state court during July 2013. The plaintiffs claim the estate is owed royalties, pursuant to the 1963 contract, for the millions of copies of Jungle Book VHS tapes and DVDs sold in the last several decades.
The lawsuit was refiled in California state court in November 2013. The judge dismissed the case in September 2014, holding that the plaintiffs were attempting to create a new royalty category within the contract instead of enforcing an existing right. VHS tapes and DVDs obviously were not in existence when the parties drafter the 1963 contract.
At the oral argument, however, Justice Perluss made comments favorable to the plaintiffs. He stated that there is “a dispute about what exploitation of disposition of mechanical royalties means—whether it’s a whole new revenue stream, or it’s the already contemplated revenue stream.”