6 ms·

Looking forward to seeing Mickey Mouse in the public domain in a few years?

by bnastic 13y ago

rwbt 13y ago
Considering how powerful Disney is, I am not hopeful that it will happen.
- mullingitover 13y ago
  I've thought about this, and I kinda wonder if there's more to it than the bad ol' media cartels flexing their muscle. Doesn't the government have an interest in maximizing its revenues? If so, is revenue maximized by limiting copyright, or by expanding it?
  - A1kmm 13y ago
    Overall government revenue worldwide is maximised by balanced copyright - that promotes the more efficient creation of taxable creative works, and use of copyrighted works in business, by allowing reuse of public domain works, but still incentivises forward progress to further enlarge the pie of which the government gets a slice. I suspect that at the moment, balance means shortening copyright terms drastically. Overall campaign finance revenues, however, are maximised by supporting copyright expansion, because copyright holders who already own substantial collections of copyrighted works are willing to back politicians who support their interests, but there is no equally big pot of money for politicians in favour of balancing copyright. It is one of those cases where what is essentially legally sanctioned corruption allows for regulatory capture of the political process against the interests of the government and public.
- Houshalter 13y ago
  Ironic considering Disney is famous for making films based on other people's stories.
  - officemonkey 13y ago
    Did you know that Disney is asserting their trademark on Snow White? They believe that they're the only studio allowed to make a film of the Snow White story, even though the Snow White fairy tale is in the public domain?
    - rplnt 13y ago
      They are not successful though, are they? There is a low-budget snow-white based TV series that run a year ago (Once Upon A Time). Also, it is ridiculous considering that character is way older than Disney itself and provably comes from outside US jurisdiction.
      - itafroma 13y ago
        > They are not successful though, are they? There is a low-budget snow-white based TV series that run a year ago (Once Upon A Time) Once Upon a Time is a (still active) series produced by ABC Studios, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group, which is in turn a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney. The show incorporates dozens of Disney franchises (or, rather, the Disney versions of classic stories) entirely because of its ownership.
      - dougbarrett 13y ago
        If it's the ABC "Once Upon A Time", that's Disney owned.
    - gweinberg 13y ago
      I'm looking forward to them asserting copyright over the Jungle Book characters. Sure, Disnet made their movie the year after Kipling's copyright expired, but it's the Disney movie versions that people know and love, not the versions from some old book that nobody reads any more. That reminds me, I should download Jungle Book from librivox, I need more books to listen to.
Moto7451 13y ago
I'm guessing we'll be seeing another one of these before then: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
- praxulus 13y ago
  Is there a sensible way to extend copyright on "active" IP that is still being used in new content, while allowing copyright to expire on "dormant" IP that has been left untouched for years? I don't think it's unreasonable for Disney to still hold copyright on Mickey Mouse (that might be the nostalgia talking), but there are plenty of creations from much more recent times that have long overstayed their welcome in the copyright protected realm.
  - greglindahl 13y ago
    One way is to go back to the old US system, whereby you had to actively renew copyrights, and it costs enough that only active authors or publishers will do so. In reality, it was pretty messy, and there's a lot of arguing about whether a magazine copyright that wasn't renewed causes a story published in multiple places to have a lapsed copyright, etc etc. It was also extremely painful to search for renewals until all of the renewal records were digitized by the Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders. Now it's just moderately painful, because you have to be alert for variations in titles and author names.
  - dragonwriter 13y ago
    > Is there a sensible way to extend copyright on "active" IP that is still being used in new content, while allowing copyright to expire on "dormant" IP that has been left untouched for years? Periodic -- say, every 7 years -- renewals with exponentially increasing costs to renew.
    - AmirS2 13y ago
      Why bother with exponentially increasing costs? Even a token fee would ensure that copyright expires on abandoned/orphaned works.
lessnonymous 13y ago
I'm surprised Disney didn't throw all their weight behind the Doyle estate here. Under this precedent, all attributes of Mickey Mouse created in 1928 (his first appearance) appear to become public domain in 4 years time, giving you, me, and my uncle Bob the right to publish Mickey Mouse stories.
gaius 13y ago
Maybe a British judge should just declare it?

Looking forward to seeing Mickey Mouse in the public domain in a few years?

by bnastic 13y ago

Looking forward to seeing Mickey Mouse in the public domain in a few years?

rwbt 13y ago

Considering how powerful Disney is, I am not hopeful that it will happen.

mullingitover 13y ago
I've thought about this, and I kinda wonder if there's more to it than the bad ol' media cartels flexing their muscle. Doesn't the government have an interest in maximizing its revenues? If so, is revenue maximized by limiting copyright, or by expanding it?
- A1kmm 13y ago
  Overall government revenue worldwide is maximised by balanced copyright - that promotes the more efficient creation of taxable creative works, and use of copyrighted works in business, by allowing reuse of public domain works, but still incentivises forward progress to further enlarge the pie of which the government gets a slice. I suspect that at the moment, balance means shortening copyright terms drastically. Overall campaign finance revenues, however, are maximised by supporting copyright expansion, because copyright holders who already own substantial collections of copyrighted works are willing to back politicians who support their interests, but there is no equally big pot of money for politicians in favour of balancing copyright. It is one of those cases where what is essentially legally sanctioned corruption allows for regulatory capture of the political process against the interests of the government and public.
Houshalter 13y ago
Ironic considering Disney is famous for making films based on other people's stories.
- officemonkey 13y ago
  Did you know that Disney is asserting their trademark on Snow White? They believe that they're the only studio allowed to make a film of the Snow White story, even though the Snow White fairy tale is in the public domain?
  - rplnt 13y ago
    They are not successful though, are they? There is a low-budget snow-white based TV series that run a year ago (Once Upon A Time). Also, it is ridiculous considering that character is way older than Disney itself and provably comes from outside US jurisdiction.
    - itafroma 13y ago
      > They are not successful though, are they? There is a low-budget snow-white based TV series that run a year ago (Once Upon A Time) Once Upon a Time is a (still active) series produced by ABC Studios, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group, which is in turn a wholly-owned subsidiary of Disney. The show incorporates dozens of Disney franchises (or, rather, the Disney versions of classic stories) entirely because of its ownership.
    - dougbarrett 13y ago
      If it's the ABC "Once Upon A Time", that's Disney owned.
  - gweinberg 13y ago
    I'm looking forward to them asserting copyright over the Jungle Book characters. Sure, Disnet made their movie the year after Kipling's copyright expired, but it's the Disney movie versions that people know and love, not the versions from some old book that nobody reads any more. That reminds me, I should download Jungle Book from librivox, I need more books to listen to.

Moto7451 13y ago

I'm guessing we'll be seeing another one of these before then: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

praxulus 13y ago
Is there a sensible way to extend copyright on "active" IP that is still being used in new content, while allowing copyright to expire on "dormant" IP that has been left untouched for years? I don't think it's unreasonable for Disney to still hold copyright on Mickey Mouse (that might be the nostalgia talking), but there are plenty of creations from much more recent times that have long overstayed their welcome in the copyright protected realm.
- greglindahl 13y ago
  One way is to go back to the old US system, whereby you had to actively renew copyrights, and it costs enough that only active authors or publishers will do so. In reality, it was pretty messy, and there's a lot of arguing about whether a magazine copyright that wasn't renewed causes a story published in multiple places to have a lapsed copyright, etc etc. It was also extremely painful to search for renewals until all of the renewal records were digitized by the Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders. Now it's just moderately painful, because you have to be alert for variations in titles and author names.
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  > Is there a sensible way to extend copyright on "active" IP that is still being used in new content, while allowing copyright to expire on "dormant" IP that has been left untouched for years? Periodic -- say, every 7 years -- renewals with exponentially increasing costs to renew.
  - AmirS2 13y ago
    Why bother with exponentially increasing costs? Even a token fee would ensure that copyright expires on abandoned/orphaned works.

lessnonymous 13y ago

I'm surprised Disney didn't throw all their weight behind the Doyle estate here. Under this precedent, all attributes of Mickey Mouse created in 1928 (his first appearance) appear to become public domain in 4 years time, giving you, me, and my uncle Bob the right to publish Mickey Mouse stories.

gaius 13y ago

Maybe a British judge should just declare it?