Mr Cochran has a history of high-profile cases

Johnnie Cochran, the US's most high-profile celebrity lawyer, has been hired by the Slesinger family in the hope of securing a breakthrough in the exceptionally long-running legal case.

The family holds US marketing rights for the cartoon bear.

They accuse Disney of short-changing them in royalty payments.

Hotting up

The battle over Winnie the Pooh is now more than a decade old

The Slesingers bought the rights from author AA Milne more than 70 years ago.

Winnie the Pooh has become a lucrative prize

Since then, Disney has built a commercial empire around the character, and the family alleges the firm has failed to pay $35m in royalties on unreported software and video sales of $3bn.

The case has become more complicated this year, after Disney helped one of AA Milne's descendants counter-sue in an attempt to reclaim the rights.

The Slesinger family insist that the descendant has no claim, but is plainly keen to get the case moving.