A battle over Flat Stanley

What happens when a character takes on a life beyond its author’s original work, and who should benefit?

The Flat Stanley Project was started by Dale Hubert in 1995. By several accounts Mr. Hubert was encouraged in his promotion of Flat Stanley (and related literacy and community development efforts) by Jeff Brown, the creator of the Flat Stanley character and author of numerous Flat Stanley Books, and by HarperCollins Publishers.

Mr. Brown died in 2003. No formal agreements had been made between Mr. Brown or HarperCollins and Mr. Hubert. It appears Mr. Hubert may be paying a price for relying on a good faith understanding as there are other parties who now wish to capitalize on the popularity of the Flat Stanley character, a popularity, one could argue, that was stimulated significantly by Mr. Hubert’s efforts.

Thanks to LAist for a summary of the dispute and links to additional information.