Joined: Feb 21, 2006 Posts: 4196 Location: Sanford, Fl
Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 8:59 am Post subject: Disney's rights to young Mickey Mouse may be wrong
Interesting article about old school copyrights, especially whether Disney actually owns the first version of Mickey Mouse or not?!
The article itself was pretty long, so I am going to post the first page of the article, click the link at the end for the rest:
Disney's rights to young Mickey Mouse may be wrong
Film credits from the 1920s reveal imprecision in copyright claims that some experts say could invalidate Disney's long-held copyright.
By Joseph Menn | Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 22, 2008
He is the world's most famous personality, better known in this country than anyone living or dead, real or fictional. Market researchers say his 97% recognition rate in the U.S. edges out even Santa Claus.
He is the one -- and, for now, only -- Mickey Mouse.
As Mickey turns 80 this fall, the most beloved rodent in show business is widely regarded as a national treasure. But he is owned lock, stock and trademark ears by the corporate heirs of his genius creator, Walt Disney.
Brand experts reckon his value to today's Walt Disney Co. empire at more than $3 billion. Acts of Congress have extended Mickey's copyright so long that they provoked a Supreme Court challenge, making Mickey the ultimate symbol of intellectual property.
All signs pointed to a Hollywood ending with Disney and Mickey Mouse living happily ever after -- at least until a grumpy former employee looked closely at fine print long forgotten in company archives.
Film credits from the 1920s revealed imprecision in copyright claims that some experts say could invalidate Disney's long-held copyright, though a Disney lawyer dismissed that idea as "frivolous."
Although studio executives are not yet hurling themselves from the parapets of Sleeping Beauty's castle, the unexpected discovery raises an intriguing question: Is it possible that Mickey Mouse now belongs to the world -- and that his likeness is usable by anybody for anything?
For the record, any knock-offs would have to make clear that they did not come from Disney, or else risk violating the separate laws that protect trademarks. And the potentially free Mickey is not the most current or familiar version of the famous mouse.
Copyright questions apply to an older incarnation, a rendition of Mickey still recognizable but slightly different. Original Mickey, the star of the first synchronized sound cartoon, "Steamboat Willie," and other early classics, had longer arms, smaller ears and a more pointy nose.
The notion that any Mickey Mouse might be free of copyright restrictions is about as welcome in the Magic Kingdom as a hag with a poisoned apple. Yet elsewhere, especially in academia, the idea has attracted surprising support.
"That 'Steamboat Willie' is in the public domain is easy. That's a foregone conclusion," said copyright scholar Peter Jaszi of American University's Washington College of Law after studying the issue at The Times' request.
The issue has been chewed over by law students as class projects and debated by professors. It produced one little-noticed law review article: a 23-page essay in a 2003 University of Virginia legal journal that argued "there are no grounds in copyright law for protecting" the Mickey of those early films.
Roger Schechter, a George Washington University expert on copyright, called the article's argument "a plausible, solid, careful case." By contrast, a Disney lawyer once threatened the author with legal action for "slander of title" under California law. No suit was filed.
No one expects Disney, which declined interview requests, to surrender Mickey without an all-out legal brawl. And the cost of what has been an academic exercise would soar if moved into a federal courtroom.
"Law and equity might line up on the side of forfeiture," said Michael J. Madison, associate dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. But "Disney has enough ammunition on its side to dissuade all but the most well-financed competitor, or any but the most committed public-interest advocates, from challenging Mickey."
The story begins once upon a time, when a longtime Disney devotee dared awake the dragon in the Disney company's powerful legal department.
Gregory S. Brown, 51, a former Disney researcher who has lived in the same one-bedroom apartment in Hollywood for two decades, seems an unlikely giant-killer.
Thin, pale and bespectacled, he looks the part of an obsessive archivist. He has worked little since a heart attack in 1998, getting by mostly on disability payments.
As a child, Brown was intrigued by a book on the hard slogging by Walt Disney and his brother Roy to establish themselves in the early days of film and animation. That launched a lifelong fascination with the business side of the Disney empire.
While in high school, Brown visited Disney offices to research a term paper and ended up getting hired as an assistant to Disney archivist David R. Smith in 1974. Brown helped catalog correspondence between the Disney brothers and had access to other internal records.
I agree with the article, I don't think anyone would actually be able to beat Disney is the courts over this, but it does raise a few eyebrows. Especially those who are familure with Disney's efforts to retain control over the earliest versions of Mikey Mouse and their other characters. _________________ Up or Down North, South, East, or West An Adventurer's Life is Best!
I would think anyone wanting to pursue this would find themselves spending a heck of a lot more money if fighting of the mouse unsuccessfully, then they could gain as benefits of using it. Particularly when you consider it may well be cheaper to simply work with Disney for the rights.
onecutemoose Bouncing Between Wonderland & Neverland
Joined: Nov 09, 2005 Posts: 6730
Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 1:27 pm Post subject:
I think that Mickey is Disney's. Period. If someone wants to use it, pay the copyright fee...and quit creating lawsuits that take money away from Disney...they need it to build new attractions
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