Editing Three Investigators (section)

==Copyright dispute==
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===Initial position===
The series was invented by American writer Robert Arthur in the US in 1964. Arthur sold the international exploitation rights to the publisher Random House, however he retained the copyright. The contract included the rights to publish books, films, comics and mechanical [[sound reproduction]]. Since there was no significant audio book market at that time, it is legally not clearly determinable and therefore doubtful whether this "mechanical sound reproduction" describes the medium of audio books or radio plays as they exist now. The Franckh-Kosmos publisher of Random House acquired the German-speaking exploitation rights in 1968. The label [[Europa (record label)|EUROPA]] received the rights to the audio version of the series as part of the sublicense partners of the Kosmos Verlag.

After Robert Arthur's death in 1969, the copyrights were given to the [[University of Michigan]]. In his will, Arthur declared that "all rights, legal titles and stakes, [he] owned by the time of [his] death, concerning all published books, short stories, plays or unpublished manuscripts, including all issued copyright claims, just as all rights for license fees and subsidiary rights, as it is specified in [his] contracts with publishers" were to be given to the University of Michigan. 

Since then Random House had been paying [[Royalty payment|royalties]] to the university, but they stopped doing so as of 1992, because it was not clear whether the University of Michigan still had a legal entitlement. The [[American copyright law]] said that literature that received a copyright before 1977 had a safeguard clause that made sure that all licenses automatically returned to the author or his heirs after 28 years. As a result of that, Random House and Arthur's heirs, his children Elizabeth Ann Arthur and Robert Andrew Arthur, signed a contract for the rights of use of the volumes of Arthur and the further usage of the characters, under the condition that the 10 books were to be brought back onto the American market.

After the series was discontinued in the US in 1991, Kosmos Verlag sought the rights to continue the series in Germany with German authors, and in 1994 signed a corresponding contract with Random House without the consent of Arthur's heirs.

In 2002, Random House returned the rights of the ten volumes to Robert Arthur's heirs after the publisher failed to comply with the agreed republications of the works. In 1999, however, Kosmos-Verlag had already registered the word mark {{ill|Die Drei ???|de|Die drei %3F%3F%3F|vertical-align=sup}} throughout Germany and by 2003 throughout Europe as well as a European trademark for audio carriers and printed products.

Negotiations between Kosmos Verlag and the heirs on a new usage rights agreement failed because Kosmos relied on its trademark registration and ongoing agreements with Random House. Furthermore, Kosmos doubted that Arthur's heirs were the right holders since according to Arthur's will, all rights were to be transferred to the University of Michigan. At the end of 2004, Random House and Kosmos signed an extensive agreement to transfer all rights to the other American novels not written by Arthur to Kosmos Verlag.

===Lawsuit===

Due to the unclear legal situation, EUROPA decided at the beginning of 2005 not to publish any further episodes based on the book templates of Kosmos Verlag and discontinued the license payments to Kosmos. At that time the books “Spur ins Nichts” and “...und der Geisterzug” (both German only) had already been recorded as a radio play.

In 2006, the parent company of the European label [[Sony Music Entertainment]] (formerly Sony BMG) finally gained all the German rights on Arthur's creations and the use of the original characters and showplaces independently from Kosmos publishing house of Robert Arthur's successors. The contract contained the right to order new books in German, as well as the right to evaluate the sound storage medium. Moreover, all were transferred: from "[...] interests [of Arthur's children] in all German audio recordings, bound books, pocketbooks, theatrical performances and electronic film recordings of theatrical performances to all existing derived products in Sony BMG". EUROPA developed a new audio book named "{{ill|DiE DR3i|de|DiE DR3i|vertical-align=sup}}" based on it. Indeed, EUROPA avoided the use of the name "Die Drei ???" and also the name created by Kosmos because of the protection of the brand. Instead of that only characters and names which were based on Arthur's ideas were used (characters’ original names).

The Kosmos publishing house continued its series of books under well-known titles and with famous character's names. The society{{which|date=September 2020}} filed a lawsuit against the Kosmos publishing house because Sony BMG itself saw its exploitation rights violated. A provisional disposal was obtained against the sale of two novels “Spuk im Netz” and “Der Fluch des Drachen” (both German only).

Because of this, the two books had to be taken off the market retroactively. This verdict was overturned by the [[Oberlandesgericht|Higher Regional Court]] in [[Düsseldorf]] on May 13, 2007. The judges were unable to identify Robert Arthur's children as the rightful owners of the copyright law. They found that the University of Michigan rightfully inherited the works of Robert Arthur and his characters, meaning that his heirs could not have transferred the rights to Sony BMG. A due date was set for the complainant of Sony BMG to submit the new chain-of-title as well as the new contracts as they were available to her. Eventually, Kosmos and Sony BMG negotiated again to come to an extrajudicial agreement, causing the delivery of Episode 7 of "DiE DR3i" to be delayed. The final release date of Episodes 7 and 8 was 30 November 2007.

===Outcome===

In February 2008, Sony BMG and Kosmos came to an agreement. The rights to the books as well as the brand name, which were the foundation for the audio dramas remained with Kosmos as well as all other publishing products, including calendars, non-fiction literature, mobile and computer games, science kits and board games.

The rights to use audio material with the inclusion of the entire catalog as well as stage shows, plays and the commercialization of merchandise remain with the record label Europa.

Since 4 April 2008, new German editions under the name “Die Drei ???” have been published, based on the books published by Kosmos. The rights to continue the hugely successful audio plays “{{ill|Die Drei ??? Kids|de|Die drei %3F%3F%3F Kids|vertical-align=sup}}” were transferred to Europa as well. The already published audio play episodes were sold by the previous license holder USM until late 2008. Furthermore, a withdrawal of the series "DiE DR3i" from sale until 1 January 2009 was agreed upon.

Since 1999, the spin-off series “Die Drei ??? Kids”, issued by publisher Kosmos, has been supposed to target a much younger audience. The contents of the stories were thus tailored to be more suitable for children and to be less complex. Besides, with an age of only ten years, the young detectives are considerably younger than in the current episodes of the original series.