Paws Incorporated, legally known as Paws, Inc., is an American comic studio and

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

founded by American cartoonist Jim Davis in 1981 to support the ''

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis (cartoonist), Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide Print syndication, syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the t ...

'' comic strips and its licensing. The company was originally located in Davis' home state of

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th st ...

. Its building was established in

Muncie Muncie ( ) is an incorporated city and the seat of Delaware County, Indiana. Previously known as Buckongahelas Town, named after the legendary Delaware Chief.http://www.delawarecountyhistory.org/history/docs/lenape-villages.pdf It is located in ...

in 1989, relocated from Davis' own farm when he was a boy. In 1994, the company purchased all rights to the classic ''Garfield'' comic strips from 1978 to 1993 from

United Feature Syndicate United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along wit ...

, although United still holds the original black-and-white daily strips and original color Sunday strips. 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

Andrews McMeel Syndication Andrews McMeel Syndication (formerly Universal Uclick) is an American content syndicate which provides syndication in print, online and on mobile devices for a number of lifestyle and opinion columns, comic strips and cartoons and various other c ...

(formerly Universal Press Syndicate and Universal Uclick), while rights for the strip remain with Paws, Inc. By 2015, the company employed almost fifty artists and administrators. In 2019, Davis sold Paws, Inc. to Viacom (now known as

Paramount Global Paramount Global (Trade name, doing business as Paramount) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquar ...

), including global merchandising and existing licensees. The deal put Paws under Viacom's

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. Its ...

banner (which itself is part of its Kids & Family division). The deal excluded the rights to the live action ''Garfield'' films from 2004 to 2006, which are now owned by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

through its

20th Century Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

label, as well as the upcoming animated ''Garfield'' film, which will be distributed by

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio Conglomerate (company), conglom ...

. Although Paws, Inc. is now effectively located in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, Davis will continue to draw the comic strips in Indiana for newspapers and Andrews McMeel Syndication.

Filmography

Television specials

Television series

Feature films

References

1981 establishments in Indiana Publishing companies established in 1981 Comic book publishing companies of the United States Garfield Publishing companies based in New York City American companies established in 1981 Jim Davis (cartoonist) Paramount Global subsidiaries 2019 mergers and acquisitions Nickelodeon {{comics-company-stub