Paws Incorporated is an American comic book studio, animation studio, and production company. Founded in 1981 by Jim Davis, it was made to support the Garfield comic strip and its licensing. It is located in Muncie, Indiana with a staff of nearly 50 artists and licensing administrators.
In 1994, the company purchased all rights to the comic strips from 1978-1993 from United Feature Syndicate. The original black and white daily strips and original color Sunday strips remain copyrighted to United Feature Syndicate. The full color daily strips and recolored Sunday strips are copyrighted to Paws as they are considered a different product. The strip is currently distributed by Universal Press Syndicate, while rights for the strip remain with Paws, Inc.
On August 6, 2019, it was announced that Nickelodeon bought the company and all of it's productions, characters, and trademarks.[1] The deal did not include rights to the live action and direct-to-video Garfield movies, which are owned by Walt Disney Studios through its 20th Century Fox label.[1] Jim Davis will continue to draw the comic strip, though.[2]