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Comment by s-phi-nl | Hacker News Reader

Because that's what the US Constitution requires [1]:

"To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries" (Emphasis added)

[1] https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/United_States...

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Copyright is limited. It's just that the Mickey Mouse collective is constantly getting laws passed that push back how far away "limited" is. It's more like a pay-as-you-go scheme for unlimited copyright while skirting around the US constitution. And of course, because Disney has enough money they can also convince Congress to apply the law changes retroactively.

Yeah, I don't know what was more offensive: extending copyright YET AGAIN or doing so retroactively to save Steamboat Willie.

I vowed to boycott Disney, but Pixar got subsumed into the evil empire and I gave up.

I take a boycott from buying Disney products (including movie tickets / movies). I will gladly watch their movies if a friend has a copy (copyright law still hasn't taken that freedom away from me), but if no-one has a copy the movie couldn't have been that good anyway. :P

The content Mickey Mouse has been in is copyrighted. Mickey Mouse himself is trademarked. So you /may/ be able to reuse Steamboat Willie for whatever purposes you wish (assuming Disney Legal doesn't get Copyright extended), but you'll probably never get Mickey Mouse as a symbol to work with.

"Mickey Mouse collective" is a term I use for the pro-copyright-extension lobby. But yes, you're right that Mickey Mouse will probably never be a usable character.

Micky Mouse always has been protected for a limited time by copyright. Micky Mouse always will be protected for a limited time by copyright.

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