Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

web.law.duke.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 221 posts

Re: Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

#51

Post by sircastor »

m3kw9 wrote: post #41

So is using mickey full of land mines? If you use it incorrectly and accidentally use variations of it that still have copyright, you risk getting sued

It's important to remember that none of these laws give you permission to do anything. The only thing the law does is give a judge, or a panel of judges, or a jury, a set of guidelines to evaluate whether or not you violated that law and can be fined or punished.

If you use it in a way that violates copyright, or in a way that a lawyer responsible for the IP thinks violates copyright then you can hire a lawyer to try to convince someone that your use of the IP doesn't violate copyright.

Re: Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

#52

Post by krebby »

candiddevmike wrote: post #7

Was there a copyright reason for Disney changing their opening logo sequence to the steamboat willy thing? Some kind of "it's now our trademark" claim?

The Corridor Crew just did a good legal analysis on this a couple weeks ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2dIvUAd5QE&t=533s

Basically the Disney brand has gotten so huge and diversified that a public domain Mickey isn't an existential threat to their business anymore. Terrifying in its own right, but at least we might see an end to the endless copyright extension. Interesting times ahead!

Re: Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

#53

Post by kshacker »

m3kw9 wrote: post #46
m3kw9 wrote: post #41

So is using mickey full of land mines? If you use it incorrectly and accidentally use variations of it that still have copyright, you risk getting sued

Damn you better be a copyright lawyer to use this, I just read at least 2-3 gotchas by skimming the article

I can see people taking 2-3 paths

1. Wait 5-10 years to see how others do it, then follow their path

2. Line up some copyright lawyers and maybe EFF etc

3. Defeat someone smaller, someone with 1/100 the clout of Disney and build a case law there

Re: Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

#54

Post by ekianjo »

glandium wrote: post #36
tkgally wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that’s an important point. When my kids were small, I remember being struck by how much public-domain material I noticed in Disney videos and at Disneyland. Few of the Disney properties were based on original ideas; almost everything was built quite explicitly on other people’s creations, many of which Disney could use for free. This was in the 1990s, when Disney was lobbying to extend copyright terms in order t…

And what's Disney doing now? Rehashing its own movies.

Unlimited profits for zero effort

Re: Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

#55

Post by ekianjo »

miningape wrote: post #22
ehsankia wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't The Lion King a rip off of the Japanese anime Kimba? https://12tomatoes.com/kimba-similarity-lion-king/

Basically - no, the Kimba / Lion King controversy is fake (the Kimba movie often cited as the work copied was actually released 3 years after the Lion King). Check out YMS's review on this exact topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5B1mIfQuo4

Tezuka's work is much earlier than the Lion King. You have been misled

Re: Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

#56

Post by ronsor »

shmerl wrote: post #15
b112 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could freeze it, sorta. So it is 94, then 93, then 92 and so on, years. People with copyrights today, don't lose anything. Only new ones have shorter terms.

That's better than nothing, but since it was pushed so aggressively before, it can as well be pushed backwards the same way.

At this point, I think the only way copyright terms could be reduced is a Constitutional amendment (not going to happen).

Re: Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

#57

Post by galangalalgol »

krebby wrote: post #52
candiddevmike wrote: post #7

Was there a copyright reason for Disney changing their opening logo sequence to the steamboat willy thing? Some kind of "it's now our trademark" claim?

The Corridor Crew just did a good legal analysis on this a couple weeks ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2dIvUAd5QE&t=533s Basically the Disney brand has gotten so huge and diversified that a public domain Mickey isn't an existential threat to their business anymore. Terrifying in its own right, but at least we might see an end to the endless copyright extension. Interesting times ahead!

Can we go back to death +50 then? Tolkien would be public domain next year. In Canada it was close but they switched to +70 last year.

Re: Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

#58

Post by JoshTriplett »

bentley wrote: post #28
EvanAnderson wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen a lot of speculation that they've been slowly pivoting Steamboat Willie in preparation to use trademark litigation where copyright will no longer be effective.

This kind of thing has been attempted in the past. For example, after the Lego brick patents expired, Lego sued Mega Bloks (in Canada) claiming a trademark over the design of the brick. They lost the case, because the Supreme Court (of Canada) ruled you can’t double‐dip on IP protection by turning a functional (i.e., patentable) design into a trademark. Disney putting Steamboat Willie in their logo is unlikely to act…

> They lost the case, because the Supreme Court (of Canada) ruled you can’t double‐dip on IP protection by turning a functional (i.e., patentable) design into a trademark.

There's case history on that in the US as well.

Re: Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

#59

Post by [deleted] »

raincole wrote: post #26
foob wrote: post #16

My pet theory is that the only reason we didn't see a copyright extension act this year, like we've seen every time Steamboat Willy was about to enter the public domain in the past, is that Disney ended up on one side of the culture wars with what went on in Florida. It's far more difficult to get bipartisan support for robbing the public of what should be in the public domain once you've involved yourself in partisa…

It might not be the only reason, but I think it's a good insight. It's also a reminder that when something "has bipartisan support" should be a red flag: it usually means it's another way the government is robbing from you (the public).

[deleted]

Re: Mickey, Disney, and the public domain: A 95-year love triangle

#60

Post by tptacek »

galangalalgol wrote: post #57
krebby wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Corridor Crew just did a good legal analysis on this a couple weeks ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2dIvUAd5QE&t=533s Basically the Disney brand has gotten so huge and diversified that a public domain Mickey isn't an existential threat to their business anymore. Terrifying in its own right, but at least we might see an end to the endless copyright extension. Interesting times ahead!

Can we go back to death +50 then? Tolkien would be public domain next year. In Canada it was close but they switched to +70 last year.

That's a term shorter than 1909, before Disney even existed. Seems pretty unlikely. The "life" stuff doesn't make any sense, either; it's always been a genuinely weird term.
Post reply on HN