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Catherine Seville, Peter Pan's Rights: To Protect or Petrify?, The Cambridge Quarterly, Volume 33, Issue 2, 2004, Pages 119–154, https://doi.org/10.1093/camqtly/33.2.119
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Abstract
This article considers the legal and literary implications of ‘ownership’ of character, with particular reference to J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan works. The legal rights to these are owned by the Great Ormond Street Hospital. Exceptionally, the Hospital was granted a perpetual right to a royalty for every performance or adaptation of Peter Pan . The Hospital has sought to prevent the publication of a new Peter Pan adventure by the Canadian author Emily Somma. This is a controversial area. The precise ambit of legal ‘character right’ is still unclear. However, as the boundaries are being set, literary considerations deserve proper acknowledgement.