XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, rec.arts.disney.parks, sac.politics   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: transheuser-busch@gmail.com   
      
   On 16 Feb 2022, Biden sucks  posted some   
   news:suk3ko$1ckgp$134@news.freedyn.de:   
      
   > Go woke, be broke and bankrupt.   
      
   Disney is set to lose its rights to Mickey Mouse in 2024, and a potential   
   new owner is already lying in wait.   
      
   Did you hear it? If you’re totally quiet, you can hear it. It’s the dark,   
   sinister, and maniacal laughter of the villain from any of Disney’s   
   classic feature-length animated films. You hear it now, don’t you?   
      
   In news reminiscent of that from early 1928, Disney is set to lose its   
   rights to the beloved Mickey Mouse in 2024, just two short years from now.   
   and the enterprise poised to catch him just as he is loosed from his   
   Disney birthplace is doing so only out of spite–not for the Mouse–but for   
   everything the Mouse represents.   
      
   A company called MSCHF has launched its own version of Mickey Mouse. And   
   it’s scary. Its version isn’t referred to as Mickey, and the likeness is   
   not quite Mickey’s either. It’s more of a copy and an idea rolled into   
   one.   
      
   Fans and non-fans alike are invited to purchase a token that looks like a   
   mouse. The so-called “X Famous Mouse” serves as more of a placeholder that   
   can be bought today for $100 and redeemed in 2024 when Disney no longer   
   owns the rights to Mickey. Once redeemed, the owner will receive an actual   
   collectible piece of artwork.   
      
   It’s the copyright for Disney’s Steamboat Willie that is set to expire on   
   January 1, 2024. Once the copyright expires, the character of the famous   
   mouse, as he appeared in the animated short, will be part of the public   
   domain. That is unless Disney can pull a fast one as the company did in   
   1988.   
      
   Faced with a similar fate in the late 80s, Disney bypassed any potential   
   riff-raff and went straight to the federal government for help, lobbying   
   Congress in an effort to extend its copyright on Mickey. Whether it was   
   Disney’s powerhouse persona or a Congress full of Mickey fans, we aren’t   
   sure. But the lobbying worked, and the copyright was extended.   
      
   But, as with all good things, the copyright is coming to an end. The so-   
   called “Mickey Mouse Protection Act,” or, as it is more formally known,   
   the Copyright Term Extension Act, only extended the rights so long, and in   
   2024, the extension of the protection will be terminated.   
      
   MSCHF explains that it feels Disney is a “multinational behemoth, able to   
   change national laws to suit the interests of a cartoon mouse” and that   
   the entertainment giant is also “a massive all-swallowing conglomerate,   
   with a desire for both industry dominance and cultural hegemony.”   
      
   The company further says that we must “leap at the chance to take back   
   even the scant morsels available to us; at the slightest chance we must   
   eat them alive.”   
      
   So it would seem that MSCHF wants the rights to Mickey, not to continue to   
   see his notoriety blossom and bloom or further his legacy, but rather to   
   mock him and the company he represents for being such a power-hungry   
   “conglomerate.” Got it.   
      
   But if Disney did it once, couldn’t they do it again? Couldn’t they lobby   
   Congress or write a letter to the President or pay a hefty sum of money to   
   see that the copyright doesn’t expire? That remains to be seen.   
      
   And if Disney is successful in securing some kind of staying power on its   
   Mickey copyright, MSCHF is ready for that too, saying that it will move   
   along with the extension, should one be granted.   
      
   Catching the mouse seems to be the name of the game for MSCHF’s CEO, Gabe   
   Whaley, who says his company is making the most of a loophole in the   
   copyright law.   
      
   “Famous Mouse is using the idea of conceptual art as a copyright   
   loophole,” he explained. “Copyright is always a game of loopholes.”   
      
   A loophole led to the demise of Walt’s beloved Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in   
   early 1928. The long-eared bunny ended up the property of Universal   
   Pictures, thanks to a contract loophole, a sneaky distributor, and some   
   less-than-loyal studio staff members.   
      
   Could it happen again in 2024? It’s possible.   
      
   Whaley explains, “This is a roundabout way to get the mouse out early.”   
      
   https://www.disneydining.com/disneys-losing-the-rights-to-mickey-and-   
   thats-not-the-weirdest-part-of-the-story-bb1/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)