Reminder that its limited to this version of Mickey. The Mickey we all know is still under copyright because Disney is evil.
this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
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And also, they started using steamboat willie in the intro of their films, so even if it's not copyright'd it will still be TradeMark and will not be able to use it to create merchandise
I'm tired of being alive
No no be tired of disney and Jeffrey bezos being alive. You. You're great.
Disney isn't even alive and is still fucking stuff up.
Oh, so we can use this version of Micky in our own media now? Very cool
People, there will be no last minute change. Disney is evil, not stupid. Even in a more efficient Congress, they couldn't wait this long. There is no secret plan that can sneak through another copyright extension. The House can barely elect a Speaker without it being a national embarrassment. They adjourned for the year leaving open questions for funding Ukraine and Israel. Disney also had a big fight with DeSantis this past year, and Republicans would love to block their effort merely out of spite.
I said five years ago that it was too late already. I was basing that off a 2016 Corey Doctorow article--the same guy who recently popularized the term "enshittification"--where he points out that Disney got what they want with Trademark law. They don't need to protect Steamboat Willy anymore.
Now, in that article, Doctorow did think they would extend copyright, anyway. That hasn't happened. It looks like Disney looked at the fight over Net Neutrality and decided they didn't need to spend the time, money, and public image to make it happen. The Internet wasn't mobilized for this sort of thing in the 90s when they last extended copyright. That isn't true anymore. They would have to have a fight, and they declined.
unlike how it was in the 90s, Disney no longer has support in the government not as much as it used to. Republicans dont like them because they went back on supporting the dont say gay bill. Also before Isaac Perlmutter was on the board of directors and he was in the inner circle of Trump and he recently got laid off. Corey is right that not only disney but other companies are starting to prefer trademark law to get what they want. Look at ERB Inc, Tarzan is public domain but they still have a lot of control and are the "official" estate for Tarzan stuff. They own all related trademarks.
I expect this will happen to Lord of the Rings. It goes public domain in about 20 years, which isn't that far away. Same amount of time between now and that as there is between now and the Peter Jackson films.
The Tolkien estate might trademark the term "Lord of the Rings" and keep licensing things out. Fans could always come up with an alternate name, like "Silmarillion: War of the One Ring", and we all know what it is.
thats what is done currently with tarzan, usually its like king of the jungle or lord of the trees which are titles tarzan gets in the books so its enough to let people know what it is without ERB Inc coming and knocking on your door with some lawyers
Let us remember Disney has been robbing the public domain (and the ~~American~~ international public) with every copyright extension.
Yup, Disney is a masterclass in copyright trolling. They’re great at finding ways to copyright works that were previously in the public domain. All of those fairy tales they based their movies on? Good luck making your own material with those fairy tales now, because Disney has claimed them and will sue your ass by saying it’s derivative of their copyright. Even if it’s not, and is only based on the original fairy tale, they’ll bury you in legislation and wait for your legal fund to run out.
That’s why a lot of the modern retellings fall into the “dark and gritty” side of things, because that’s one of the few ways to keep Disney from issuing a Cease and Desist. Because Disney can’t easily claim it’s directly infringing on their happy-go-lucky intellectual property.
Disney is not going to lobby to stop this because they can use trademark law to protect the mouse.
Which means you can include Mickey Mouse in your work, but you can't use him for marketing or merchandising.
You can if you use the steamboat willie version of him
"Includes someone who rhymes with Dickie Louse and drives a fucking boat".
Trademark only works if the infringement is in direct competition with you. They need to be in the same trade as the person/company that owns the particular mark of the trade.
A plumbing company could use Mickey as a mascot, (and even claim Mickey as their own trademark for plumbing, preventing Disney from using it for plumbing-related marketing in the future,) because Disney isn’t a plumbing company so they can’t claim a plumber is infringing on their trademark. Since the plumber is in an entirely separate trade and isn’t competing with Disney, Disney can’t claim trademark infringement.
Meanwhile Disney's creates micro companies on all sectors to be able to claim the trademark on each one.
Which works fine until you get served a cease-and-desist by Disney's lawyers, and you can't afford to fight it. Disney probably won't win if they go to trial, but it's not going to trial.
And they've already transitioned to using the Steamboat Willie model for the opening of their new movies as part of their trademark. As soon as I saw that happening I knew it wouldn't matter that the copyrights to it would finally go away because Disney found a new way around it with the trademarking.
Did they forget to lobby for new copyright laws?
They got what they want with trademark law now. A few days from now, you'll be able to distribute Steamboat Willy any way you want. You still can't use Disney's trademarked image of Mickey for commercial purposes.
They didn't bother having that fight because they didn't need to.
They still got time.
They didn't have enough time three years ago.
They really don’t. The current congress wouldn’t even be able to pass a fully supported bipartisan bill in the next 6 days. And republicans have turned against Disney in recent years, due to the whole Disney World/Ron Desantis feud.
I hope Epic adds him to fortnite for no reason other than they can
Thirty years from publication.
No exceptions.
Copyright is only an incentive to create new works for the public. For us. Once you've sold it, it's ours. That's what the money is for. If thirty years isn't enough then it's just not gonna happen.
And money is all it's about. Any money involved goes to you. Noncommercial works cannot infringe, unless they're maliciously interfering with that monetary incentive. Even commercial works get a pass, right now, if they're transformative, minimal, or for the purposes of talking shit about your work.
And for new works that do infringe - copyright only exists to incentivize new works. There is no "unpublish." Destroying artistic works is intolerable censorship, full stop. Maybe you get all the money involved. Maybe you get some money involved. Mandatory licensing is definitely the right idea for streaming, to unfuck that anti-consumer shit-show. Why not derivative works? All you suits care about is the money, anyway. Take your check and mind your business.
look at that confidence in mickeys face. Little fucker will pull some legal shit at the very last second, just watch.
How would that even work? Even with a Congress that works more efficiently than this one, you can't put a bill in at the last minute and expect it to to go through. Also, Disney has had a very public fight with DeSantis this past year, and Republicans would block the effort merely out of spite.
They don't need to have that fight. They got what they want with Trademark law now. Steamboat Willy will be public domain as expected this Jan 1.
How would it work? If I had to guess he will use a giant hammer, or maybe a cute flower that squirts water.
Sorry, wrong reply
Thanks for the warning! I will immediately sell all my Disney stocks before the company becomes worthless.
Disney has extended the copyright several times just to keep Mickey from the public domain. The fact that the copyright has lasted for 95 years is fucking ridiculous.