New Netflix Documentary Digs Into Largely Quiet Lawsuit Surrounding the Bob Ross Brand

Steve Ross was the handiest son of Bob Ross and adopted in his dad’s footsteps to transform a painter. But the place is Bob Ross’ son now after a tumultuous lawsuit?
American painter Bob Ross was a surprise hit whose status got here mostly after his dying. He had a TV show that aired on PBS that includes him portray, typically surroundings images that he appeared to create very easily. He had a son, Steve Ross, who followed in his footsteps.
And now, 26 years after his dad’s dying, Steve is opening up a couple of largely unknown fight over his dad’s highbrow belongings rights in a new Netflix documentary.
Bob Ross’ son opens up about the criminal battle over the rights to his dad’s highbrow assets.
Bob Ross was once an iconic artist, and he shared his talent for turning paint strokes into masterpieces on his PBS display The Joy of Painting. His calm demeanor, hippie-like personality, and non violent talking voice made him an peculiar hit who used to be well-loved even after he died in 1995.
When he died, a Bob Ross’ son, Robert Steven Ross, who is going by way of the name Steve, was named his successor. He used to be additionally a painter and had a equivalent vibe to his dad — it simply made sense. What didn’t make sense was once that somebody else was claiming the rights to the Bob Ross brand.
Bob Ross Inc. is an independently managed corporate that wasn’t owned by means of Bob Ross at the time of his loss of life, nor was it handed all the way down to Steve when his dad died from lymphoma. Instead, the name and likeness of the artist, Bob's intellectual assets, used to be owned by Walt and Annette Kowalski.
According to The Daily Beast, Bob was once presented with felony documents asking him to turn over the business to Annette and Walt. He refused the request and instead made changes to his will to incorporate that his son, Steve, and one of his part brothers should inherit his intellectual assets.
But that’s not what took place. Instead, a judge determined that Steve didn’t cling the rights on the foundation that, at the time the will was once amended, the intellectual assets belonged to Bob Ross Inc., no longer Bob himself.
And that’s what this new Netflix documentary, titled Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed, touches on.
What is Bob Ross’ son doing now?
When his dad died, Steve fell into a depression and gave up his love of painting. Eventually, he fought his way back and now lives his lifestyles as a painter — just like his dad. In 2019, Steve was in a position to publicly stand at the easel again.
Steve is now following in his dad’s footsteps, and he’s teaching the love of art once more. He holds artwork categories in each Colorado and Tennessee and assists others who have been certified as Bob Ross instructors.
“I didn’t notice that individuals ignored me or sought after to have me do that again,” Steve mentioned to The Daily Beast. “I always knew, however what I mean is, perhaps I didn’t wish to know. Maybe I reserved the proper to remain ignorant.”
He’s also satisfied to convey to gentle the felony troubles after his dad’s loss of life. “I’ve been short of to get this story out for a majority of these years,” Steve says in the trailer of the new Netflix documentary.
Since the documentary's liberate, Bob Ross Inc. has issued a statement refuting Steve's claims, in particular that they tried to dam his tale from coming out. "Bob Ross Inc. never pursued or threatened legal action against Steve Ross, and, in fact, no one at Bob Ross Inc. heard from Steve Ross for almost 20 years, until 2017 when Steve filed suit against the company without any prior communication," the remark reads.
Steve has in the past mentioned that he did not know that the highbrow assets was once left to him by way of his father in his will until shortly sooner than he filed the lawsuit. But Bob Ross Inc. believes that the problem is just that Bob had by no means clarified how his corporate worked internally, which is what resulted in the confusion over whether or not his descendants or the Kowalskis are the right kind house owners.
"Many of these baseless accusations attempt to relitigate claims brought against Bob Ross Inc. in 2017 by RSR Art LLC, a company owned by Steve Ross, Dana Jester, and Lawrence Kapp, all of whom appear in the film. Those claims were rejected by a court of law in 2019. RSR Art then filed an appeal, which was dismissed at RSR Art’s request after the parties reached a settlement through a standard court-ordered mediation process," the commentary says of the lawsuit and the documentary.
Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed is available for streaming on Netflix now.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pbXSramam6Ses7p6wqikaKhfl7yjedGoqqxlo6S7brrOsA%3D%3D