A Little Mouse Irony...
In the battle over copyright and the protection of intellectual property one of the most vocal enemies of fair use and restricted copyrights has been the Disney corporation. If an extention were not granted, then over the next few years the early works of Walt's company would pass into public domain. This includes 'Steamboat Willie', the first appearance of Mickey Mouse.
I have to thank Larry for being subtle about getting this ball rolling. Disney has benefited more than any other company in America by taking stories and ideas from the Public Domain, and turing them into billions of dollars! Most of the major Disney movies have come from stories in the public domain: Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Pinocchio, Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Black Cauldron, Tarzan, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Hercules, Robin Hood, The Sword in the Stone, Winnie The Pooh, Adventures of Huck Finn, Heidi, The Jungle Book, The Three Musketeers, Tom & Huck, Treasure Island, and more. Imagine if all of these works had been locked up with perpetual copyrights. Would Disney have been able to use them?
Coming soon to a theatre near you will be Treasure Planet (wonder where that idea came from?). Over the years Disney has gone out of its way to pilfer from the public domain. I guess it takes one to know one...mj
11:52:09 AM 
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