Judge: Fleming Estate Likely Owns Movie Rights to Children's Book

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN, Staff Reporter of the Sun
September 25, 2006

A federal judge in New York has ruled that the estate of James Bond creator Ian Fleming — not Metro-Goldwyn Mayer — is likely the owner of movie rights to his children's book, "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car."

The ruling came in a lawsuit that pits Fleming's estate against MGM, which receives profits from a 1968 movie based on his book. But the judge, Miriam Cedarbaum of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, also ruled that the estate may have waited too long to file the 2004 lawsuit to be able to collect damages for copyright infringement.

The movie, which stars Dick Van Dyke, has never been remade. An attorney for the British author's estate, David Wolf, said he was not aware of any plans to film a new version, but that the resolution of the lawsuit might indeed lead to a remake.

"What primarily is at issue is the rights to do a new film," Mr. Wolf said.

Fleming died in August 1964, two months before "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was first published. Random House published the book in America in 1965.

At the center of the legal dispute between MGM and the Fleming estate is the question of whether MGM's rights to the movie automatically reverted to the estate in 1993.

By that time, Fleming's widow, son, and brother had died; two of Fleming's nieces now control the trust that is responsible for the lawsuit.

Although Fleming's estate had requested damages from MGM, Judge Cedarbaum held off on making any final decision until more could be learned about why the estate waited so long to begin asserting its ownership of the film rights. In recent years, MGM has continued to promote the film.

It spent about $1.6 million on a special edition DVD version in 2002, according to the decision.

The decision is not likely to have an effect on the ownership of film rights to Fleming's more famous creation, James Bond.

One Bond movie, "Casino Royale" of 1967, has been the object of litigation in past years involving MGM; Sony Pictures Entertainment; Danjaq, the production company that made the Bond films, and a screenwriter who once collaborated with Fleming, Kevin McClory.