5 ms·
The really disgusting thing is that the U.S. then turns around and tries to force it's insane copyright laws on other countries under the guise of trade agreeme
by beloch 11y ago
The really disgusting thing is that the U.S. then turns around and tries to force it's insane copyright laws on other countries under the guise of trade agreements like TPP. It seems inevitable that, eventually, the birth of Mikey Mouse will divide what is public domain from what is not around the entire globe for all time.
Of course, the U.S. could instead do something sensible like create a "Mickey Mouse law". e.g. For ongoing fees of a fairly large size, companies can retain a copyright indefinitely. Set the fees to a little less than the amount Disney spends on lobbyists and graft and everybody wins. Disney keeps the rights to Mickey and saves money. Things not named Mickey Mouse start entering the public domain again.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- anon4 11y agoDoesn't the last section say that trademark law can be used for pretty much exactly that, in effect?
- rmc 11y agoYes, trademark is much longer. But it also has a lot of caveats. Namely you can lost trademarks.
- rdc12 11y agoThe article briefly mentions some of the other IP that Disney has (Pluto, Goofy etc) from the same era as Mickey, while they are not as important to Disney as Mickey, I doubt the trademark way would cover them too.
- lostlogin 11y agoDon't be so hard on the US. We have a sycophantic prime minister who would do anything the US asked, legal or not (just ask Dotcom) it's hardly fair on the US to expect this not to be used to mild advantage. New Zealand, John Key.
- digi_owl 11y agoHere is something really hilarious, USA didn't sign the Bern convention on copyright until the 1980s. More and more it feels like USA internationally right now is a rerun of Victorian England.