Kaut claims that Pumuckl, who lives in an inner courtyard carpentry shop in Lehel with the carpenter Meister Eder, is an imp and therefore genderless and in no need of female companionship. She further claims that von Johnson is infringing her copyright to the figure with the intent of retaining any proceeds from sales of images of Pumuckl’s female companion. There have been various court cases prior to this one, always involving Kaut’s intellectual property to the figure itself and von Johnson’s intellectual property to the original illustrations, as Kaut’s son-in-law had taken over the job of illustrating later books based on von Johnson’s style. In September 2006 von Johnson had obtained a verdict forbidding the Bayerischer Rundfunk’s broadcasting either the TV-series or the three full-length movies based on the books until the parties had achieved an agreement regarding her royalties.
The court decided against Kaut in the present case, stating that she had not been able to prove that von Johnson had actually initialized the invitation to the wedding. Von Johnson had presented a sworn affidavit that she had not known about the wedding. She had also, continued the court, not expressed any intention of continuing Kaut’s literary work; she had solely stated within her right to free speech that she believes that Pumuckl deserves a girlfriend. Kaut herself, the court concluded, had once written a story about Pumuckl’s unhappy infatuation with Meister Eder’s niece and therefore must tolerate Pumuckl’s being seen as capable of having a girlfriend.
Kaut, who is fiercely protective of Pumuckl, has already announced that she will appeal the case all the way up to the Bundesverfassungsgericht (Federal Constitutional Court).
I think that Pumuckl, whether genderless, male or female, is entitled to a female companion as Meister Eder is grumpy, ill-tempered and misogynic.
Further source: Süddeutsche Zeitung e-paper, 25 May 2007
