91–100 of 201 posts
Will software become “public domain” over time?
Yes. In the US this happens 95 years after the initial creation of the software. Many other countries match this time period. Other countries may recognize a shorter copyright, but I believe no country will recognize a longer one.
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It's been obvious for a few years that Disney wasn't going to pursue extending copyright anymore. It would have been politically difficult at any point in the last few years as the Senate does so little.
The timelessness of those old cartoons has waned considerably. GenX was already getting reruns of Disney and Looney Tunes cartoons that were aimed at Boomers. As the boomers are aging out, a lot of the slices of both domestic life and leisure time in these cartoons are something alien. Women in the kitchen? Hunting rabbits? And with a shotgun? Really? Itchy and Scratchy are Tom and Jerry ad absurdum. The Flintstones…
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I was shocked to learn my 7yo daughter associates Disney with Mickey and Minnie. She's watched like one Mickey cartoon on Disney+, and she's seen way more Disney stuff than that. Never been to Disneyland. But somehow to her, Disney === Mickey/Minnie. Branding is wild stuff.
Mickey’s silhouette is still used in various Disney logos, so it’s not too wild a connection to make.
If something is in the public domain, is it still accessible for copying or can companies still profit off of selling public domain material? For example, if I “pirate” a public domain text published by some company, am I in the wrong?
IANAL but my understanding is that public domain material can be published in a copyright protected form, yes. For instance, Beethoven's 5th symphony is in the public domain, but if a publisher starts selling the sheet music for it, then that content itself is still protected. So any contributions they've made such as annotations or formatting, cover art, etc are protected but the underlying content is not.
If something is in the public domain, is it still accessible for copying or can companies still profit off of selling public domain material? For example, if I “pirate” a public domain text published by some company, am I in the wrong?
IANAL but my understanding is that public domain material can be published in a copyright protected form, yes. For instance, Beethoven's 5th symphony is in the public domain, but if a publisher starts selling the sheet music for it, then that content itself is still protected. So any contributions they've made such as annotations or formatting, cover art, etc are protected but the underlying content is not.
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Disney spent the last decade or so growing their business (through large acquisitions) to where Mickey is now just small fraction of their worth. So they likely don't really care anymore. Plus it's only the old, old design of Mickey, not the current version they have been using for awhile that looks more normal to most people these days.
I was shocked to learn my 7yo daughter associates Disney with Mickey and Minnie. She's watched like one Mickey cartoon on Disney+, and she's seen way more Disney stuff than that. Never been to Disneyland. But somehow to her, Disney === Mickey/Minnie. Branding is wild stuff.
What if we didn't wait for things to enter the public domain but instead they were born right into it? I have started a book publishing company that publishes new, public domain books only: https://laniakeabooks.org/
https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html#register
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They established early copyright because publishers would just print copies of books and never pay the authors at all. The middlemen aren't going to do it voluntarily, and if they do, they'll be undercut by those that don't.
Authors can sell their own books even if someone else publishes it. Especially if it's published into the public domain.