7 ms·

Three things come to mind : Most of the Disney stories are actually based on public domain works. Snow White is an obvious example from the Grimm stories but i

Three things come to mind : Most of the Disney stories are actually based on public domain works. Snow White is an obvious example from the Grimm stories but is even older than their collection. You'd definitely want a legal team's support if you were to release a Snow White story these days. This is an indicator of how far corporations have proceeded in "owning" the public domain. Companies like to feed from the public domain but not so much the other way. No surprise there. Mickey Mouse would likely be public domain soon or already if not for constant intervention from Disney to move the date each time it gets even remotely nearby. All that said, I'm not sure illegal downloads are the answer. Heavy political pressure / people power is more likely beneficial. Reining in copyright laws in general is still something on the overall worlds "todo" list but there are a few other issues with higher priority. General awareness of how copyright/IP laws and agreements impact cost of medicines and health might be part of the way forward.

matheusmoreira 7y ago
> Companies like to feed from the public domain but not so much the other way. > Mickey Mouse would likely be public domain soon or already if not for constant intervention from Disney to move the date each time it gets even remotely nearby. Yeah. They're probably going to try and extend copyright duration once more in the 2020s. It's infuriating. The social contract behind copyright was "we'll pretend you have exclusive access to your work for some time so that you can make your money and when the time is up the work will belong to public". Copyright holders obviously have no intention to fulfill their part of the contract: they employ lobbyists to extend copyright duration to infinity, weaken fair use by mandating automated and indiscriminate blocking and generally erode the rights and freedoms of citizens. So why should people recognize copyright as legitimate? It's a phony, artificial concept that should be abolished before the billion dollar copyright industry abuses it any further. People who infringe copyright are guilty of nothing but civil disobedience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience

matheusmoreira 7y ago

> Companies like to feed from the public domain but not so much the other way. > Mickey Mouse would likely be public domain soon or already if not for constant intervention from Disney to move the date each time it gets even remotely nearby. Yeah. They're probably going to try and extend copyright duration once more in the 2020s. It's infuriating. The social contract behind copyright was "we'll pretend you have exclusive access to your work for some time so that you can make your money and when the time is up the work will belong to public". Copyright holders obviously have no intention to fulfill their part of the contract: they employ lobbyists to extend copyright duration to infinity, weaken fair use by mandating automated and indiscriminate blocking and generally erode the rights and freedoms of citizens. So why should people recognize copyright as legitimate? It's a phony, artificial concept that should be abolished before the billion dollar copyright industry abuses it any further. People who infringe copyright are guilty of nothing but civil disobedience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_disobedience