How Mickey Mouse Evades the Public Domain
10th March 2017
For Disney, Mickey Mouse is not just a huge money maker, but the company’s most coveted piece of intellectual property. Mickey is Disney, and Disney is Mickey: the two are simply one and the same, and nothing is more important to Disney than his well-being. (“I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known,” Walt Disney once famously said).
For this reason, Disney has done everything in its power to make sure it retains the copyright on Mickey — even if that means changing federal statutes. Every time Mickey’s copyright is about to expire, Disney spends millions lobbying Congress for extensions, and trading campaign contributions for legislative support. With crushing legal force, they’ve squelched anyone who attempts to disagree with them.
The only way to create a monopoly that lasts is through government.
March 10th, 2017 at 08:38
The Kochs and Waltons should be taking notes: squelching opposition through money is right up their alley.
March 11th, 2017 at 20:40
Where would the Left be without straw men to hate?