Public Domain Entries - First Time in 20 Years

[Maquise]

On January 1st, the copyrights from works first published in 1923 expire, making the first time a large number of works have entered the public domain since the passing of the 1998 Copyright Extension Act. These include Charlie Chaplain's The Pilgrim, 1923's The Ten Commandments, and other works published in 1923 (though not recordings of music made that year).

Since no additional copyright extension laws have been passed or have been brought before Congress as of yet, every year on January 1st, more works will enter the Public Domain. In 2024, Steamboat Willy, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, is scheduled to enter Public Domain.

https://news.artnet.com/exhibitions/...g-2019-1430986

[Rogar Demonblud]

Oh, well, Disney can't allow that. Although I'm not sure when was the last time they actually used Mickey as something other than a logo.

[Metahuman1]

Isn't there that one early 30's Mickey Mouse Cartoon about The Mad Scientist that's in the Public Domain?

[OutOfThyme]

Oh, well, Disney can't allow that. Although I'm not sure when was the last time they actually used Mickey as something other than a logo.

Aside from merchandising/people in mascot costumes at Disneyland/world, I can only think of two possible examples. The first is licensing for Square Enix to use Mickey and other Disney characters for Kingdom Hearts. The second is whatever content they might have on their own channel/streaming app.

I'm curious if the decision to have that little segment of Steamboat Willy play as part of the Disney logo (during movies, at least) has anything to do with the upcoming public domain deadline, though.

[Magic_Hat]

When does the work of the late great Eric Arthur Blair enter the public domain? I can't keep track of how the new system works. He died in 1950.

[Rogar Demonblud]

For written works by a single author rather than a corporation (RPG manuals, frex), copyright runs life plus 70 currently. So if he died in 1950, that plus 70 would be 2020. I don't know if that would take effect on January 1st or if you'd have to wait until the actual anniversary of his death, but suspect it would be the former.

[Eldan]

Oh, well, Disney can't allow that. Although I'm not sure when was the last time they actually used Mickey as something other than a logo.

Not Disney America, but over here in Europe, Germany, Italy and Sweden (as far as I know, there's probably more) still have about a dozen weekly comic book lines each with the Disney characters. They are the property in children's comics, they roughly take the place of a DC or a Marvel, also in variety of stories told. (It's been 20 years since I read any, but they would do anything from historical stories, to retelling of famous literature (I remember a Disney Les Miserables featuring Donald Duck, as one example), to murder mysteries to super hero stories to science fiction and fantasy epics that went for a few hundred pages and dozens of issues.)

You can bet that if that copyright would lapse, someone would immediately try and market non-brand versions. A newspaper stand over here looks pretty much something like: shelf 1: newspapers, shelf 2: fashion and celebrity magazines, shelf 3: hobby magazines, shelf 4: Tintin and other Franco-belgian comics, shelf 5-8: Disney, shelf 9: other.

[Metahuman1]

I have several friends with toddler age children, and can confirm that Disney is currently running at least 1 or 2 cartoons with Mickey and Donald and the like as the main characters, albeit written in that distinct baby/toddler friendly fashion that is only tolerable when they do something that goes WAY over the target demographics heads but is funny too the target demographic anyway in the context it's done.


(Like a show about a little girl with a bunch of talking moving toys. And she has a knight toy. And it takes a fall, looses both arms and legs for all of 10 seconds before reattaching them cause it's a toy, but says in the 10 seconds "Tis but a flesh wound!". The target demo thinks its funny cause slapstick and then he fixes himself. I think it's funny cause I know it's a reference to Monty Python that they got past the standards and practices persons who had to approve the episode.).

[Legato Endless]

Oh, well, Disney can't allow that. Although I'm not sure when was the last time they actually used Mickey as something other than a logo.

Disney will have a tough battle, the reason the music, publishing and film industries didn't try renewing copyright again was the coalition stacked against them is astronomically more formidable than it was two decades ago. Big as the entertainment industry is, the tech sector is much bigger, and they've got a lot of users with an animus against existing copy right.

Trademarks don't expire, so Disney can keep using Mickey as a corporate symbol in perpetuity.

Also, only the Steamboat Mickey is entering the public domain now. If you tried selling a cartoon that had Mickey wearing his gloves, Disney could still sue for copyright infringement. It's still a ways off before anyone can sell Mickeys that look anything like his more famous modern designs.

Most likely Disney will be keeping a lookout for merchandise of that nature, policing any sales of people trying to profit off Mickey designs that aren't yet in the public domain.

[Tvtyrant]

Read the Wizard of Oz for the first time now that it is free online, it felt a lot like Kipling. A page to describe one thing, then a page for a two week journey.

[Erloas]

Read the Wizard of Oz for the first time now that it is free online, it felt a lot like Kipling. A page to describe one thing, then a page for a two week journey.

I had read that after having listened to Wicked on a trip. I was very disappointed. Yes, it was just like the movie, but it was *just* like the movie, like the sort of story you would get if someone was just describing the movie. No more character development, no more expanding of the world, just a very simple story

[Rogar Demonblud]

What did you expect from a children's book from over a century ago?

[Razade]

I had read that after having listened to Wicked on a trip. I was very disappointed. Yes, it was just like the movie, but it was *just* like the movie, like the sort of story you would get if someone was just describing the movie. No more character development, no more expanding of the world, just a very simple story

Are you talking about the Wizard of Oz? Because the movie leaves a good deal out from the book.

[Magic_Hat]

I'm not sure if I want to just rave about the current copyright system (don't want to derail the thread) but the fact the Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot was published in 1925 and still won't be in the public domain for awhile epitomizes the situation at least for me: it's nearly 100 years old and I still can't legally find it online for free. Someone could have been born after that poem was written, lived a full life even becoming a grandparent or great grandparent, died, and still never enjoyed that work being in the public domain.

The last few lines of the poem have becoming stupidly self-fulfilling:

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper

[JoshL]

The Hollow Men is one of my favorite poems as well, but it's not hard to find online. This was the first google search result:
https://www.shmoop.com/hollow-men/poem-text.html

Also a big fan of The Waste Land, again, easily found:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poe...the-waste-land

[Magic_Hat]

The Hollow Men is one of my favorite poems as well, but it's not hard to find online. This was the first google search result:
https://www.shmoop.com/hollow-men/poem-text.html

It's still not in the public domain. You could still get in legal trouble for using it in a project.

[Erloas]

Are you talking about the Wizard of Oz? Because the movie leaves a good deal out from the book.

You must have read a different version than I did then. A few scenes were taken out but I can't say any where missed by not being there. All of the things that make people say "the book was better than the movie" about any book to movie adaptation where missing from the book, it goes into no more depth on anything than the movie did. I can't say I remember any redeeming qualities to the book. If it hadn't been as short as it was, and on a long flight with nothing else to do, I'm sure I wouldn't have finished it.

[Rogar Demonblud]

Yeah, whatever you read wasn't actually the Wizard of Oz. Only about a third of the book made it into the movie, so there are significant differences.

[Magic_Hat]

Yeah, whatever you read wasn't actually the Wizard of Oz. Only about a third of the book made it into the movie, so there are significant differences.

Never read the work in question, but have heard the Tinman was turned to metal because he butchered people with his axe or hacked off his own limbs or something - something very dark about the Tinman's past involving an axe. Any truth to that?

[Rogar Demonblud]

If memory serves, his girlfriend's father cursed him to hack off his leg...his other leg...his arm...his other arm...his head...

This being a magical place, none of this was fatal.

[Mightymosy]

Not Disney America, but over here in Europe, Germany, Italy and Sweden (as far as I know, there's probably more) still have about a dozen weekly comic book lines each with the Disney characters. They are the property in children's comics, they roughly take the place of a DC or a Marvel, also in variety of stories told. (It's been 20 years since I read any, but they would do anything from historical stories, to retelling of famous literature (I remember a Disney Les Miserables featuring Donald Duck, as one example), to murder mysteries to super hero stories to science fiction and fantasy epics that went for a few hundred pages and dozens of issues.)

You can bet that if that copyright would lapse, someone would immediately try and market non-brand versions. A newspaper stand over here looks pretty much something like: shelf 1: newspapers, shelf 2: fashion and celebrity magazines, shelf 3: hobby magazines, shelf 4: Tintin and other Franco-belgian comics, shelf 5-8: Disney, shelf 9: other.

You know, I have up to today assumed that this would be the case in USA as well, since the comics are from Disney, aren't they?

Anyway, I have always preferred them to Marvel and DC (more realistic :-) )

[hamishspence]

If memory serves, his girlfriend's father cursed him to hack off his leg...his other leg...his arm...his other arm...his head...

This being a magical place, none of this was fatal.

His girlfriend's employer hired the Wicked Witch of the East to enchant his axe to hack off bits of him, yes.
In later versions - the employer is the Wicked Witch of the East - who doesn't want to lose her employee to marriage.

The girlfriend (Nimmie Amee) fell in love with another guy - and the Wicked Witch pulled the exact same stunt on him. The guy is now called the Tin Soldier.

After the death of the Wicked Witch, Nimmie Amee got the assistance of the same tinsmith who provided the two with their replacement parts, to salvage the living bits of those two - putting them together to form a third being - Chopfyt.

This guy, she married and lived happily ever after with.

[OutOfThyme]

{scrubbed}

[Velaryon]

{scrubbed}

[Algeh]

You know, I have up to today assumed that this would be the case in USA as well, since the comics are from Disney, aren't they?

Anyway, I have always preferred them to Marvel and DC (more realistic :-) )

Disney comics are available in the USA, but not as a common thing. I had one issue as a kid that I probably got at a newsstand on vacation, and picked another one up on Free Comic Day once in grad school. I don't know that I've ever seen a kid reading one, though.

[Haruki-kun]

The Winged Mod: Everybody, please remember to refrain from discussing the legality of using copyrighted work, as that would be considered legal advice.

Feel free to continue discussing the works themselves, though.