this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
1156 points (94.5% liked)
Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ
55064 readers
101 users here now
⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.
Rules • Full Version
1. Posts must be related to the discussion of digital piracy
2. Don't request invites, trade, sell, or self-promote
3. Don't request or link to specific pirated titles, including DMs
4. Don't submit low-quality posts, be entitled, or harass others
Loot, Pillage, & Plunder
📜 c/Piracy Wiki (Community Edition):
💰 Please help cover server costs.
Ko-fi | Liberapay |
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Here's the thing: copyright term includes the life of the author plus a fixed period. So the works you and I nobodies produce will eventually become public domain after we die. HOWEVER, and this is just my underatanding of the laws and I'm definitely not a lawyer, not big name IPs because they are not registered under the human author, but a corporation that is both a person under the law and effectively immortal. So even if it's two thousand years after George Lucas dies, Star Wars will still be copyrighted as long as Disney exists, and even if Disney dies, part of the process of corporate "death" is liquidation where they sell their IPs to the next asshole corporation.
Am I wrong? Please correct me if I am.
You're wrong, which is why Disney keep lobbying to get the length of IP ownership extended - they don't want all their IPs becoming public property.
IIRC corporate copyrights expire something like 95-100 years after creation. Copyright of works created by an individual is 70 years post death.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jul/03/mickey-mouse-disney-copyright-expiry