Rights holder

[Kateryna]

Hi everyone!

We would like to translate some books by Enid Blyton, but unfortunately can't find rightholders after closing of Chorion. Could anybody help me (and let me know email address of contact person)?

I will be very thankful for your help!

Best regards,
Kateryna

[Jack400]

If you can lay your hands on a new book the latest copyright details would be in it, I imagine.

Jack

[Moonraker]

Hachette UK own the rights to Blyton's work.

[MJE]

     I thought the rights were split up amongst a few different parties, one getting one series, and another a couple of others, and yet another getting perhaps the bulk, but definitely not all. If so, it would then depend on what books you wanted to translate.
     Or am I mistaken about this?

Regards, Michael.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Hachette UK have the rights to everything except Noddy, which is owned by the American company DreamWorks Classics (formerly known as Classic Media).

[MJE]

     Okay - thanks, Anita. That is very likely what I was thinking of - not *quite* as complex as I was thinking.
     Is this the first time the rights have been owned by more than one party?

Regards, Michael.

[Anita Bensoussane]

Yes, this is the first time the rights have been held by more than one party. Noddy was snapped up first, and I think Chorion might have been prepared to sell the rights to other series separately if Hachette UK hadn't wanted to buy the lot.

[Ming]

Chorion might have been prepared to sell the rights to other series separately if Hachette UK hadn't wanted to buy the lot.

I'm glad Hachette bought the rest. It would've been a nightmare otherwise.

[Kateryna]

Many thanks for your help!

I've already contacted Hachette UK (several times, different email addresses) but nobody answered me.
So I would be very grateful if anybody knows the e-mail address (working ) of any rights manager or Head of Licensing department.

Many thanks!

[Enikyoga]

From personal experience, it seems, it would be far easier to get a reply from them if you sent them a good-old fashioned letter.
Stephen I.

[Katharine]

Chorion might have been prepared to sell the rights to other series separately if Hachette UK hadn't wanted to buy the lot.

I'm glad Hachette bought the rest. It would've been a nightmare otherwise.

In fact, it could have been a 'hatchet job'.

[Moonraker]

[groan]

[Nicko]

Sorry if this is a poor thread for this question but I couldn`t find a better one.

Does anyone know exactly when the rights of the books passed from Darrell Waters to Chorion?

And am I right in thinking that Chorion then had the rights to everything and that all subsequent TV series (The Famous Five, the New Zealand shows etc.) had to be agreed by them?

[Anita Bensoussane]

I think it was February 1995, though at that time Chorion were called Trocadero:

http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/foru ... ro#p112264" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I believe any TV series would need to have been approved by Trocadero/Chorion.

Edit: The correct date is actually February 1996, as Tony has stated below.

[Tony Summerfield]

It is actually quite a complicated answer, but Barbara Stoney explained it in detail in the most recent edition of her Biography when she added an extra chapter. Darrell Waters sold the rights to Trocadero in February 1996 for £14.6 million and a new company Enid Blyton Ltd. was set up. We had an interview with the managing director in our first Journal which was published in Summer 1996 and at this time the name Chorion didn't exist.