What will happen to Mickey Mouse when he becomes public domain in 2023?

This is an ongoing open question in intellectual property law. A lot of people seem to think Disney (and other companies in similar situations) will find a way to continue to extend their rights past whatever dates are established by current laws. They have the money, means, and desire to do so, the thought that it should become public when its clearly still in use is a bit questionable

tl;dr: It probably won't become public domain like other stuff has, Disney is a monster in the legal world and ain't letting that happen.

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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
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He won't. Congress will continue giving Disney an exemption.

Who cares? I hope copyright is made permanent. Pirates have ruined everything anyway. The law should bear down.

Wait, how this law works, something can stop being your property after some time in US?

>Disney ever giving up one of its biggest assets for free
He won't become public domain until the moment they can't make a dime out of the Mouse anymore, so not in the next decades

I mean why the fuck would this enter public domain. They still actively use it and market it on TV, merchandise etc. He's the fucking mascot for their entire business.

>yeah sorry about that little mouse you have been actively using since you made it, it has been xxxx amount of years you must now let 3rd worlders profit off it

bob iger is trumps boy

I'm sure Walt has other things to worry about.

Yes.
Unless you have loads of money and can use lobbyists to buy Congress.

Which is what Disney will do.
Sad, stifles growth an change....

Regarding Intellectual Property, something becomes in the public domain after X years, so I won't have to pay money (royalties)to the creator of the intellectual property ( in this case Disney) whenever I want to make use of said Intellectual Property (Mickey Mouse, so for instance selling jars with Mickey on them)

Basically the idea is that if you've been dead for a really fucking long time then it's no longer possible for you as an individual to profit off the idea and use that profit to create further successful ideas, and thus it's better for society as a whole if it falls into the possession of the general public (for example all those works of literature such as Shakespare or Dickens which are freely and readily available)

They'll get the term extended, even though nobody gives a shit about Mickey Mouse as a character anymore.

It should have been public domain decades ago, Disney are the ones who keep getting the duration of copyright extended.

but arent trademarks renewable forever?

its not strictly a question of copyright

AFAIK, things like songs become public domain 70 or 80 years after the last person who had a part in its creation dies

This is different. Disney is still a company that uses the mouse on everything. Shakespeare has been dead for years and his shit would be irrelevant if it wasn't public domain.

Fuck communism

I don't know what's worse. Sup Forums discussing legal matters or Sup Forums discussing finance/economics

In six years? How long does Disney wait to make their move in these cases? 6 years seems a little short to change these laws.

disney built its success on public domain, it's only fair for others to use the mickeyverse :)

fuck off back to your game of thrones or doctor who containment boards fucking faggot

It was really stupid of him not to start The Shakespeare Corporation and have the rights for all time because companies are like Gods to Americans.

Fuck you lifted this straight from reddit.

But I read an infographic that said public domain is a communist thing.

Disney could trademark his design. Wouldn't be too hard.

They would just have to show that they regularly use Mickey mouse in the running of their business

I thought these laws only apply to the films/shorts and not the character itself.

Like how Superman Fleischer shorts are public domain but Superman himself isn't.

>people who consume media must be brainlets with no careers
sorry your cunny threads are being removed

Another reason why it will be extended is that royalty payments are a phenomenal way to dodge taxation. Let's say Disney Holding ownts the IP on Mickey and Disney Japan wants to sell Mickey dolls, Disney Japan has to pay Disney holding a sum in royalties. The trick is determining the proper price of the roaylties, because we are dealing with an intercompany transaction so the free market isn't here to determine its price. This is the area of Transfer Pricing and literally every big multinational uses this as a tool to hide taxes (what usually happens is that they place the company that owns the IP right in a country without a tax on royalties, the Nethertlands for instance, and they determine a price for the royalties that is so high that the company paying the royalties will barely make a profit on for instance in this scenario selling the dolls. But that doesn't matter as they all are part of one big multinational)

Fuck off corporate cocksucker

Believe it or not the op is actually a Sup Forumsedditor
you can tell by how surface level the post is

Even if Mickey does enter the public domain it really doesn't mean much at this point. Disney will still use him and people will buy their Mickey products because they have the air of originality and authenticity. People already bootleg and steal Disney properties out the ass. This would just be one they could do it with legally now.

>live in Orlando
>our new county property appraiser is a poo-in-the-loo who takes no shit from anyone
>gave disney a tax bill based on the value of their theme parks as reported in their public financial statements
>disney is crying and saying their parks are only worth a few million instead of a few billion
>poo-in-the-loo refuses to budge
>disney now got the governor fighting for them

Fuck Disney.

>I thought these laws only apply to the films/shorts and not the character itself.

This, everybody else in the thread doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. Mickey Mouse is not going to enter public domain, just his first movie (and after a while the next movie and so on).

That's not how it works retard. Walt probably transferred his intellectual ownership over to Disney (the company is a legal entity) before he died. The company itself owns the intellectual property of Mickey Mouse.

This only applies to stuff like music and etc because the only intellectual owner is the person who made it.

It's a symbolic thing. Disney are terrified that they'll somehow lose money if other people can profit on Mickey, so they push through changes to all the copyright laws they can in the hopes of preventing it, it won't effect them but it will effect real media. Imagine what the cultural landscape would look like if nobody except the Estate of Bram Stoker could use vampires, for example.

Nobody cares about their cartoon mouse, but the fact that nothing of significance has entered the public domain in decades is largely as a result of their actions.

>Shakespeare
>American
Decent/10

75 years after the creator if said property has died it will become public domain.

Yeah nobody gives a shit about steamboat mickey film.

But in 20 years time Cinderella and Snow white films are up to public domain.

Significant dvd sales

Will they ever give us a Steamboat Willy reboot?

Lol none of the shit Disney has will ever go into public domain. They're a multi billion dollar company with top legal assets.

>Reading comprehension/10
Do you think Disney is going through British courts?

Disney's reanimated corpse will bribe congress to extend copyright to three centuries

Wait a sec doesn´t that mean that all those Pre-Mickey shorts are already in the public domain as we speak?

nope they're exempted because (((Disney)))

No, Disney was given a 20 year extension

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

I think they are in some countries, not in the US, though.

And I would argue that Disney should be exempt. The company still stands today and is still working with the character. I don't see how putting Mickey in public domain would benefit general society either. Because people are already creating tons of work using him, Disney is not going after them. They would howe've would not be happy if another company created a movie or tv show using him.

It won't, Disney runs copyright law
Everyone knows this, look up copyright law changes with the history of Mickey Moises copyright

So which other iconic IPs are going public in coming years?

These guys don't know what they're talking about, public domain is public domain, every aspect of them belongs to us all. You can get around this though:

>The use of trademark law to protect works also subject to copyright is nothing new. The first 21 stories about Tarzan, being first published commencing in 1916, are now all in the public domain. Yet, there are no rival stories about Tarzan being currently written by other authors. This is because heirs of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan, had the foresight to obtain a trademark on the name “Tarzan.”. Armed with this registration, they have been successful in preventing the distribution of works using the “Tarzan” trademark and variations.

most films from 1920s-1930s

Mickey Mouse is a trademark. Trademarks don't go in the public domain.

That's what I said, Mickey Mouse is trademarked so the character himself will never enter public domain, just the works he's featured in.

Who do you want to direct the first official unofficial Mickey Mouse film when he goes public domain? I'd like to see Zack Snyder's take on the character.

>Who cares?
Clearly you do.

>Shakespeare has been dead for years and his shit would be irrelevant if it wasn't public domain.

What did he mean by this?

He means that he's so american that he thinks a cartoon mouse drawn by a jewish man is more important than the author who shaped the very language he speaks./

>company still stands today

So what? The author is dead. If Disney is exempt then anyone can create a company to hold intellectual property forever and nothing will ever enter the public domain. The whole notion of copyright was a mistake.

>What will happen to Mickey Mouse when he becomes public domain in 2023?

disney will buy the fucking government

United States of Disney, here we come.

if Republishits continue to control congress there's no way

They'll keep extending it.

Shakespear is popular because his works are taught at school

but if schools had to pay royalties to use his content, they would opt for a free alternative, therefore shakespeare works wouldn't be as popular

Prepare for a new Mickey movie or show.

>Sony Bono act

FUCKING THANKS YOU TWAT

Can't you update a copyright?

Braindead op literally copied the entire paragraph from reddit. You suck.

Who cares?
No really, I know Mickey is symbol of Disney, but lets face it he is not that important today.

people think this will somehow save Mickey, when reality is we'll just get even more horrendous Mickey shit

Why should it become public domain? It's still in use by the company that owns and created it...

What other brands or characters are going to expire soon? Is there a list somewhere?

>company created it

People created it. Companies can't create, only own.

Government will extend the copyright, spouting some bullshit about not having an American icon be perverted through other businesses.
Possible bullshit about brand damage through outside usages affecting Disney jobs.

If the company's goal is to produce, and it collectively aims the goals and progress of its employees in order to make shareholders happy, hasn't it more than contributed in creating it?

No. Individual artists create, the company only pays for it.

If I remember correctly Sherlock Holmes was one of the last things to enter public domain. Everything else is stuck in the pipe after Mickey.

fuck off shill.

Disney has taken full advantage of previous expired copyrights without “paying into the system” with its own original characters.

It was made by a guy who created the company though, if he wanted to use his creation to promote his own company and its still going strong then why should they have to forfeit their legitimate claim to its ownership? Also, companies definitely create, thinking only individuals create is taking things too literal. People will make things with the intention of making a company better and not for their own benefit all the fucking time

exactly.

allowing things to go into public domain fuels people to create more.

Copyright stifles creativity and denies us of our heritage from our ancestors.

>disney shilling at full force
>all websites have like 15 paid articles about disney products

>While Disney continues to ardently fight for copyright legislation, more than 50 of its own films -- including blockbusters like Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, Frozen, and The Lion King -- are based on works in the public domain:

>since you made it
Walt's been dead for years, m8.

Ya, so why should they have to give up their own creations to public domain when they clearly own them. It's clever business not unethical. Besides if they could pay off the creator of Arabian nights they'd have probably just done that instead. Disney will get what I wants and that'd not a bad thing, they're an amazing business and anyone who can't acknowledge that is just a salty cynic who disregards any business aspect of art

Because the guy is dead. The company is his creation, Mickey Mouse is his creation. Why should one of his creations own another forever?

>thinking only individuals create is taking things too literal

It's literal because copyright was founded to protect the content creators, not companies. Generally speaking, the whole notion of owning ideas is bonkers and should be abolished ASAP.

Basically you can use something after OPs death and not pay royalties. Lots of Youtube channels, sitcoms and modern music use music and sounds from as early as the 1940s now

Sure, but if it went to public domain everyone would go back to give a fuck. I mean, if you had the chance wouldn't you fuck around with it?

DON'T WORRY

ITS ALL PAID FOR

Haven't you heard? Corporations are people in these here United Sates of America. Praise Citizens United!

I don't know why Disney keep wasting millions greasing the wheels to ruin copyright law for generations to come, nobody even cares about Mickey fucking Mouse anymore.

>anyone who can't acknowledge that is a shrewd consumer who wants higher quality for smaller price like any economically savvy individual should

fix'd

But it cares for its other properties.

Sure they don't car about people watching steamboat willie mickey mouse for free...

...but what about when Cinderella, Aladdin and Snow White come up fro public domain.

Lots of money in merchandising and film rights all lost.

BASED PAJEET

>it only takes a few million dollars to control congress
What the FUCK. Disney is a multi-billion dollar company, and it only takes that much?

I'm not sure folklore concepts and creatures can be trademarked.

>the only correct answer in this thread

On a specific issue where there is little organized/funded resistance? Yeah.

Most people are unaware and unconcerned about copyright law (as evidenced by this thread) despite the huge impact it has on their lives.

This tbqh. Almost 100 posts and only 2-3 people can actually grasp the difference between copyright and trademarks.

The whole mind state disney/corporations have the general populace in about copyright nowadays is totally fucked.

If they happen to be created in the 20/21st century, they sure as fuck can.

How many rupee per post do you get paid?

What does copyright have to do with ticket prices? Are you trying to say that Disney will eventually own and monopolize everything?