Wednesday 24 March 2021

Peter S. Beagle regains control of THE LAST UNICORN and other works

Author Peter S. Beagle has regained control of his intellectual property following a lengthy legal battle with his former manager.


Beagle is best-known for his 1968 novel The Last Unicorn, widely-regarded as one of the finest works of fantasy ever published. Connor "Freff" Cochran, the owner of Conlan Press, had acted as Beagle's manager for many years but in 2015 was fired and then sued for $52 million by Beagle for fraud and elder abuse. The case was found in Beagle's favour in 2019, but Cochran immediately declared bankruptcy, leaving the IP status of Beagle's work in limbo.

Today's judgement restores ownership of Beagle's IP to a group including Beagle himself. Beagle plans to bring to widespread publication a number of other works and move forwards with interest in a live-action television or film adaptation of The Last Unicorn. He also plans to publicise the issues surrounding elder abuse to help prevent it happening again in the future.

During the legal row, the audiobook of the novel became unavailable and several other publication issues arose, which should now be easily solved.

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