Happy Steamboat Willy Day
Jragghen
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Newly entering the public domain in 2024 will be:
works by people who died in 1953, for countries with a copyright term of “life plus 70 years” (e.g. UK, Russia, most of EU and South America);
works by people who died in 1973, for countries with a term of “life plus 50 years” (e.g. New Zealand, and most of Africa and Asia);
films and books (incl. artworks featured) published in 1928 for the United States.
And of course, the biggun
Disney no longer will have any REAL reason to keep pushing for copyright extension, so the clock will continue marching onwards.
Worth noting that death+50 years countries also includes JRR Tolkien this year.
Anyway, early happy Steamboat Willie Day.
works by people who died in 1953, for countries with a copyright term of “life plus 70 years” (e.g. UK, Russia, most of EU and South America);
works by people who died in 1973, for countries with a term of “life plus 50 years” (e.g. New Zealand, and most of Africa and Asia);
films and books (incl. artworks featured) published in 1928 for the United States.
The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne, including the character Tigger, enters the public domain in 2024. Notable films entering the public domain in the United States include Abie's Irish Rose, Charlie Chaplin's The Circus, In Old Arizona, The Man Who Laughs, Noah's Ark, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Lights of New York, The Singing Fool, and Harold Lloyd's final silent feature Speedy.
Additional notable works entering the public domain in the United States include Lady Chatterley's Lover by D. H. Lawrence, Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf, The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, Millions of Cats by Wanda Gág, Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh, The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie, Story of the Eye by Georges Bataille, The Threepenny Opera by Bertolt Brecht, and An American in Paris by George Gershwin.
And of course, the biggun
The earliest incarnation of Mickey Mouse as well as Minnie Mouse enters the public domain work in 2024 through Steamboat Willie and The Gallopin' Gaucho.
Disney no longer will have any REAL reason to keep pushing for copyright extension, so the clock will continue marching onwards.
Worth noting that death+50 years countries also includes JRR Tolkien this year.
Anyway, early happy Steamboat Willie Day.
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so partially it's that they've managed to argue that there are only VERY SPECIFIC ATTRIBUTES of Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse that are public domain
if your mickey talks, you're fucked, they're coming for your ass. is he friendly? oh no you don't fucker, steamboat willie mickey mouse is a mischievous shitter. your ass is ours now.
even if you think you're in the clear with your depiction...are you gonna risk the lawsuit?
Uploaded this on New Years Day because why not.
While there's positive signs of people just being way more aware of copyright issues than last time, there's a negativeish one where some GOP congresscritters was trying to set up a "never extend copyright" oath to punish Disney for criticising DeSantis' policies.
Getting something through congress these days is kind of unreliable. There's just so much obstructionism, partisanship and an entire political party that's decided that doing nothing and achieving nothing is better than letting their opponents eke even a compromised win.
Disney was also relatively open about not signing on to help other companies lobby for it because it’s a PR disaster for very limited benefit for them; their image is more important than specifically steamboat Willie.
As a parent I assure you that isn't the case.
If Disney was smart they wouldn't have fought so hard to keep the copyrights from expiring. How did Disney make a huge amount of its fortune? By making bank off of shit in the public domain. Yeah, you lose Mickey Mouse. Boo fucking hoo. You also would have had superman, batman, and bugs bunny by now you idiots. And most of Marvel without having to pay a single red cent.
But so would everyone else. Disney doesn't just want access to ip, they want ownership. Better to own Superman than just own one version of dozens.
They have ownership over their version of it.
EDIT: They could have made more money at the 'cost' of other people instead making money too. So instead they made less money so other people could also make less money.
Turkey in the Straw: still a bop
Everything Steamboat Willie does in this bit is clearly animal abuse, but does he get off the hook because he is not himself a man?
If the cost to Disney of the lawsuit is lower than the profits made from selling the cartoon, there's nothing incentivizing him from letting the mouse swing other cats around by the tail for the public's amusement.
Let see
AI WROTE
In the bustling city of Gearville, Steampunk Willie, a daring inventor with a heart of brass, sailed his steam-powered paddleboat through the whirring gears of the Industrial River. With his trusty mechanical mouse sidekick, Minerva, they embarked on a riveting adventure to outsmart the clockwork villains who aimed to control the city's steam-driven secrets.