The heiress of Wolfgang Franke, the author of the German text version, also agreed to the agreement. Ending this legal dispute, Bibi’s chaotic creed “Twice by three make four, wide and three make nine, make world wide like me” could continue to spread.
The Hamburg Regional Court decided in December 2020 that the heirs of the Swedish children’s book author should participate in the exploitation of the lyrics. Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002) explicitly refused in 1969 to call Wolfgang Franke, author of the German version of “Härkommer Pippi Långstrump”, himself as the sole author. Frank’s version became known through the German-Swedish TV series that was shown in the same year.
joint income
The court found that Frankie’s text was a so-called non-free adaptation of a legally protected character. It is directly related to the creation of Astrid Lindgren. The melody of the song by Jan Johansson and Konrad Elvers was not affected by the lawsuit.
According to the agreement, Lindgren will now be registered as a co-author of the lyrics with the collecting association Gema, and the income will be shared in the future. Lindgren’s heirs will share in the distribution of the income withheld due to the legal dispute.
