Elon Musk is back on Twitter and we can once more enjoy his unusual daily tweets. He uses the platform to express opinions on various topics. Those areas frequently include things that are out of his expertise. However, he somehow manages to influence the broad public to think about it. Usually, he even fuels their inclination toward one, or the other side.
Copyrights are not something that the billionaire is not familiar with. Back in May, the Tesla CEO decides to take a side in the debate over the protection of authors’ rights. The Digital Millennium Act is a law implemented back in 1996. It criminalizes the production and dissemination of technology and addresses issues between copyright and the internet.
Elon Musk Thinks It is Time For Disney To Lose Exclusivity Over Mickey Mouse
“Current copyright law, in general, goes absurdly far beyond protecting the original creator.” – Elon’s reply to Slashdot’s story states. The story tells how Senator Josh Hawley stripped Walt Disney of special copyright protection.
The bill that the senator issued states that original works are protected for a maximum of 56 years. That means that after this period, anything that you have designed automatically falls upon public ownership.
Winnie The Pooh is a classic example of a character that transfers into the public domain after the expiry of the copyright. Now, aspects of the character, like his face, and his red shirt, remain a trademark. However, nobody has an exclusive right over the character as a whole. Analysts state that this move by the senator is most probably an answer to Disney’s attack over the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law in Florida.
Elon Musk takes sides with the Senator and his law. He is eager to see ‘justice’ brought to Disney. He re-tweets a post stating that Mickey Mouse could soon leave Disney after the 95-year copyright expiry nears. “It’s time.” – Musk states.
The exclusivity of an original artistic work (including cartoon characters) is 95 years. And Mickey Mouse, together with many other Disney characters are closing in on this date.
However, it is not that everything is so bad. Disney as a company can ask for the exclusivity of certain characters and get an extension. Even though the company hasn’t stated what its plan is, experts predict that this will be the case. And it will not be the first time that Disney ‘interferes’ with the decision to an extension of copyright protection.
Back in 1928, the expiration period was set to 56 years. However, Disney lobbied and the government extended it to75 years. In 1998, when the expiration date got near once more, they lobbied again and extended it to 95 years.
Will they be able to use their connections and influence to extend the expiration period? When we reach the expiration date, everyone in the US will be able to use Mickey Mouse without paying royalties.
Elon Musk will most probably not use Mickey Mouse for anything in his field of work. However, this bill is of great importance to him.
Since he is in negotiation to acquire Twitter as we all know. This law makes it easier for him to not be responsible for users posting copyright content on the platform.
