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submitted 2 years ago by gedaliyah@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

This iconic mouse is weeks away fromn being in the public domain Jan. 1, 2024, is the day when 'Steamboat Willie' enters the public domain

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[-] SCB@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I find it insane that anyone should be allowed to use Mickey Mouse. Similarly, the 30s version of Superman is in public domain, soon, and that is similarly insane to me.

These are still Active properties closely tied with a company's marketing and image. We badly need to update our IP laws.

Companies last longer than a hundred years, now. It's silly we allow these things.

[-] wildcardology@lemmy.world 44 points 2 years ago

You do know that Disney made money from other people's works like the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen right? Their works are in public domain

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[-] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 39 points 2 years ago

The point of patents and copyrights is to promote and reward creative artists and inventors, not create a permanent revenue stream for corporations. Walt Disney died in 1966 and he, his investors, his heirs, and even their heirs have all been handsomely rewarded.

Now let’s get Steamboat Mickey in Smash Bros.

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[-] JdW@lemmy.world 36 points 2 years ago

Are you for real? The creators have been dead for decades. Apart from the discussion of who was actually creatively responsible for Disney's as significant characters. Copyright was invented to protect them, not to be a gravy train for their useless descendants or the faceless companies owning the right for some (often murky) reason.

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[-] emptyother@programming.dev 24 points 2 years ago

I find it insane that tvshows regularly show people watching 70+ year old tvshows. Nobody does that in real life. Doesn't feel authentic.

I find it insane that we've reused characters in stories for thousands of years, but just a century ago it suddenly became illegal until almost every character was old enough to be forgotten and culturally irrelevant.

Fan fiction of relatively new IPs should be sellable, imho, without having to beg a corporation for permission. Its stuff we've grown up on. Disney and others are literally holding our culture hostage and dictates terms.

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[-] PottedPlant@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago

The public must gain it's share of the revenue for allowing a private company to use public domain IP exclusively.

Hold a yearly auction to see who is granted rights to the property which is now the public's.

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The public must gain it’s share of the revenue for allowing a private company to use public domain IP exclusively.

Pretty strongly disagree with the idea of a company's product just becoming the public's because a certain amount of time has passed.

I cannot even conceive of what the argument for this could possibly be.

[-] ZephyrXero@lemmy.world 29 points 2 years ago

Copyright was never meant to be used how it is today. It was specifically made to protect small creators from having big companies come in and rip them off. Companies were never meant to be the beneficiaries. But lot of lobbying plus corporations are people too bullshit changed that.

Copyright is meant to last roughly the lifetime of the artist, but organizations can live forever. And then nothing ever goes in the public domain, a shared culture dissolves in to nothingness.

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[-] adrian783@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

the argument is that the people, and the political system the people put in place enabled the company to create and benefit off its creations.

"we live in a society" but unironically.

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[-] hark@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Disney themselves benefited from the public domain since they didn't invent the stories of Snow White, Cinderella, etc.

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[-] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

Literally how it's worked forever, how do you think books and films become public domain? Blame the Romans.

[-] SCB@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

"this is the way it's always been" is never an acceptable defense of anything

[-] CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I'm confused, are you actually advocating for companies to retain control of their properties forever? Public domain exists for the benefit of all people, to keep knowledge and art open and available, and to allow future generations to build on existing work.

Sure not a huge deal for Mickey mouse because it's not as important as research work or whatever, BUT considering Disney was literally built on repacking public domain stories (Pinocchio / Snow White / Beauty and Beast directly taken from previous works, Lion King is basically Hamlet with animals), it's past time they contributed back.

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[-] Heavybell@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

We agree on updating IP laws, but I think they should be curtailed rather than extended. You should not have the monopoly on an idea your entire life. If you can't milk a fortune from it in 50 years it wasn't that good an idea, so everyone else should be free to build on and improve it after that point.

And even if you absolutely kill it and your brand is still going strong decades later, that 50 years will cover anything new your did in that time. Plus it's not like people wouldn't know yours is the original even after the copyright expire; something entering public domain doesn't make it legal to claim you invented it if you didn't.

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[-] theherk@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago

Hail corporate.

this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
292 points (100.0% liked)

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