The Three Stooges' heirs fought each other over royalties, then won the case that set the limits of a dead star's likeness

Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Joe DeRita formed Comedy III Productions in 1959 to handle Three Stooges business, each with an equal share^†. After Moe's son-in-law Norman Maurer died in 1986, his widow Joan Howard Maurer and son Jeffrey ran the Stooges' film and merchandise business^†. DeRita and Larry Fine's granddaughter sued them, alleging they cheated the DeRita and Fine families out of royalties. In 1994 the Maurers were ordered to pay $2.6 million^†. Comedy III was reorganized as a three-way family interest, and DeRita's stepsons took control^†. The company then pursued outside users. Artist Gary Saderup drew a charcoal portrait of the Stooges and sold lithographs and T-shirts made from it without consent. The trial court awarded Comedy III $75,000, equal to Saderup's profits, plus $150,000 in attorney fees. On April 30, 2001, the California Supreme Court affirmed. It held that a work using a celebrity's likeness is protected only if it adds significant transformative elements. The claim rested on a 1984 statute that made publicity rights descendible for 50 years after death, later raised to 70 years. Before that statute, the right ended at death. In 1982 the Second Circuit applied that earlier rule against Groucho Marx Productions and Harpo's widow over a Broadway show that copied the Marx Brothers. In 2026 C3 Entertainment, the former Comedy III, owns the Stooges trademarks and merchandising rights^†.