Copyright is a very big thing that know one ever talks about but it could come into effect more times than you think for instance if you sell a hand drawn picture of mickey mouse disney could sue you for using their intellectual property. Now you may be asking what is an intellectual property: it is defined as a work or invention that is the result of creativity, such as a manuscript or a design, to which one has rights and for which one may apply for a patent, copyright, trademark, etc. which is a big way to say you legally have the rights to something you created a copyright is you being able to make things with that product such as printing, publishing, performing, ect or let others do the same a trademark is a symbol or word that represents a person's product or business and what is a patent is basically a copyright but for a limited amount of time now there is also fair use which says that in specific circumstances you can quote or criticize a piece of work there is also the public domain which I will say why I hate in a little bit its definition is the state of belonging or being available to the public as a whole, and therefore not subject to copyright. Copyrights also last for a certain amount of time but a lot longer than a patent it can go like this you can renew a copyright you cannot renew a patent so the ways to make it in public domain are letting it expire on your own or forgetting to renew it you can just put it into public domain and the item not having a copyright. In 2019 everything that was made in in 1924 went into public domain because there copyright expired because of congress new works have been falling into public domain that is why frankenstein has so many books for works made near 1977 it will not go into public domain until 70 years after the author or last surviving author is dead the problem I have with this is disney who has been swaying the government to change these laws so they can keep their mascot mickey mouse. When Mickey was created in 1928 he was supposed to go into public domain in 1984 56 years after he was created. At that time not many characters stayed out of the public domain even that long and of course not wanting to give up the lovable cartoon mouse they sent lobbyists to extend the terms of copyright. Then in 1976 congress changed the copyright laws it added 19 years to the previous law disney now with a little more time to think until the early two nineties. When this time came however they knew that they would not just lose out on mickey but also donald goofy and pluto so they sent out more lobbyists. These lobbyists convinced congress that they should change the bill from seventy five to ninety five they also made a new division of disney and gave congress money and workers the detractors called it the mickey mouse protection act in 1998 they created another copyright law This revision allowed copyrights to last the author’s lifetime, plus 70 years. For corporations, copyright law protects works for 95 years from their original publication, or 120 years from creation, based on whichever expires first. This pushes Disney’s copyright claims to Steamboat Willie through 2023. So I leave you with a couple of questions
Who would you want in the public domain
Do you think this is fair that disney is moving the thing that helps them make movie like snow white and aladdin
Do you think mickey will be in the public domain in 2023
Replies
Great topic choice Wii! The issue is the long paragraph that makes it hard to rerad. Break it up. Also, you are three days late which is -30 points.
hello