Disagreement Over Handling of Hergé’s Estate

Georges Remi, better known as Hergé, passed away in Brussels in March 1983. His death marked the end of the adventures of the young reporter Tintin and his dog Snowy. Hergé made it clear that he did not want anyone else drawing his famous characters; however, interest in Tintin has not faded away and Herrgé’s book sales beat most of his rivals each year.

Hergé’s closest admirers are now concerned with the management of his legacy.

• Hergé left his entire estate, including the rights to his work to his wife, Fanny Vlamynck. 
• A few years after Hergé’s death, Fanny nominated her boyfriend Nick Rodwell to head Moulinsart (the company that manages the Tintin enterprise). 
• Rodwell changed the marketing and merchandising strategies of Moulinsart from Tintin-branded knick-knacks available to everyone to beautifully crafted but prohibitively expensive products.
• Moulinsart also restricts who can reproduce the image of Tintin to favorable reviewers with a lot of money. 
• As Tintin moved towards luxury status, resentment from long-time admirers emerged.

The tight control may come to an end soon. If Moulinsart loses more money, it may have to adopt a more conventional and less controlled strategy for its merchandising. Also, the first Tintin film is set to debut in 2011. Moulinsart will retain the classic images, but the film’s producers will be free to use images from the movie for their own purposes. However, it may be hard to tell the two apart, and Tintin will most likely end up on knick-knacks once again.

See Stanley Pignal, Fans of Tintin Cry Foul, FT.com, May 7, 2010. 

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.