From KCRW in Santa Monica, I'm Claude Brodesser Ackner, and this is The Business.

So you still want to do the show business, and you think that you got what it takes,

I mean you really got a rap and be all at, but prepare yourself for the brakes, check it out.

Mad Men is a series on the cable network AMC set in the New York ad world of the 1960s.

While the show showcases a variety of real-world

products, not all of them pay for the privilege. This week on the business, we'll talk about

the slippery world of product placement with the show's creator, Matthew Weiner. But first,

it's the Hollywood News Caravan. The show products pay not to be associated with.

It's the business from NPR.

We start with good news for Disney.

The poo has not hit the fan.

At least, not yet.

A California appeals court last week declined to revisit a seemingly endless legal battle against the Walt Disney Company, seeking billions of dollars

in Winnie the Pooh royalties. Patty Schlesinger, whose dad represented Pooh creator, A.A. Milne,

will appeal to the state Supreme Court. She's not only seeking

damages, but the return of licensing rights for the Rotund Bear. Sales of Poo merchandise generated

more than $6 billion in retail sales in 2005 alone. And that's a lot of honey. With the latest

appellate ruling, Disney gets away clean, but has

nothing to be proud of. The main reason a Los Angeles trial court dismissed the case in 2004

was because lawyers for the Schlesinger estate illegally obtained documents by dumpster diving

on Disney property. Speaking of improperly gained evidence, last week a federal judge sentenced Director John

McTiernan, the director of Diehard and the Thomas Crown Affair, to four months in prison

...