Here is an interesting post combining Christmas and copyright.  It is the story of the copyright of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.  According to Randy Picker, Robert May wrote the story in 1939 when he was employed by Montgomery Ward.  Montgomery Ward distributed the book in it stores but then transferred the copyright to May in 1947.

I did a little more research and learned from snopes.com that Rudolph’s name was almost Rollo or Reginald.  May’s brother-in-law was Johnny Marks who developed the lyrics and music for a Rudolph song and then recorded by Gene Autry in 1949.