The mouse Geronimo Stilton he is a journalist and directs the newspaper "L'Eco del Roditore" in the city of Topazia. He is a character Made in Italy, protagonist of a series of hugely successful children's books: his stories have been translated into 48 languages and have sold more than 140 million copies worldwide, of which 33 million in Italy alone. Ergo, Geronimo is worth a lot of money. And the rights to his books are at the center of a legal battle.
On one side of the fence is the designer Elizabeth Dami, which gave birth to the good Stilton in the late nineties. On the other is the publisher Peter Marietti (founder of Piemme, now owned by Mondadori) who was the first to believe in the journalist mouse, allowing it to transform itself into a global phenomenon.
Designer and publisher were once friends, then something broke, but the two remain partners in IC-International Characters sr (65% she and 35% him). And for some time the fortunes of Geronimo Stilton have been disputed before the Court of Milan, which are worth 100 million euros over the next 65 years, in addition to the 24 million produced so far. Already in 2012 the estimated value of the IC was 50 million.
As reported The Corriere della Sera, the beginning of the dispute dates back to 2016, when Dami sued her publisher contesting the validity of the contract signed on September 22, 2003. The author claims that that agreement would have deprived her of the recognition due to her for her activities artistic works, with the exception of a fee of just 50 euros.
According to Marietti, however, Dami would have received from the IC 17 million in profits and 7 million in fees as administrator, channeling the rights to Geronimo Stilton into the srl and entrusting the external administration to the licensees Piemme and Atlantyca spa (a publishing company for foreign countries).
On 17 October 2016, the company approved a transaction which, in exchange for Dami's definitive waiver of all rights to Geronimo Stilton, pays her a commission calculated as a percentage of the worldwide turnover produced by books, gadgets and cartoons for 65 years which have as protagonist the mouse she created. In all, this commission is estimated to be worth 100 million.
At that point the publisher speaks denounced two of the three directors of IC for patrimonial infidelity, speaking of a corporate coup. The magistrate, however, recently decided to dismiss the criminal case. The civilian one remains standing. To find out how it will end, all that remains is to keep an eye on "L'Eco del Roditore".
