Comments on: TOM THE DANCING BUG: God-Man, in "Copyright or CopyWRONG!"

By: thecleaninglady

thecleaninglady — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:10:00 +0000

That IS a great idea!

By: 666beast1

666beast1 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:55:00 +0000

They did expect it to be in the public domain today. When the film Aristocats was made they had to pay money to Peggy Lee for the songs as it was never envisioned that vhs and then dvd would allow an extra profit stream. Disney’s model was releasing the movies to theaters every seven years to catch a new crop of kids. They knew at some point their copyright would expire and only the extreme pliability of bought and paid for politicians has allowed copyright to be extended forever. I don’t think they knew how easy it would get to own the government.

By: noah django

noah django — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:08:00 +0000

“That’s why the lady is a tramp.”

and by “lady,” I mean Disney.

By: Rob Heerdink

Rob Heerdink — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:43:00 +0000

No, no. Step 2 is “buy politicians”. Step 3 is “Extend copyright”.

By: scav

scav — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:55:00 +0000

As porn? Perhaps he’s a massive furry or something.

By: benher

benher — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:53:00 +0000

You know, I think God-man is a bit of a jerk.

By: pwinn

pwinn — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:35:00 +0000

That’s the point, Jemmy. Disney is the best example to use because of their hypocrisy, and even Disney themselves had to figure Lady and the Tramp would be in the public domain by now based on IP law at the time.

That’s the whole point.

By: Chas Simmons

Chas Simmons — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:21:00 +0000

The question isn’t whether Disney planned their buying of Congress to maintain the cash flow from such old works. The Constitution is clear: the purpose of copyrights is to “encourage” authors to write; the period of exclusive use is required to be “limited”. So the correct question is whether the Disney Corp and other movie makers would stop making movies if they couldn’t keep cashing in more than 50 years later. Obviously not, so the recent extensions of copyright go way beyond the length of time that serves the legitimate purpose of copyright law.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:55:00 +0000

Step 3 is “buy politicians”.

By: Mister44

Mister44 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:19:00 +0000

*Scoff* you don’t GET it. It has been in their plans the WHOLE TIME.

Step 1: Make and copyright movie.

Step 2: Extend copyright

Step 3: ???

Step 4: Profit!

By: wygit

wygit — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:26:00 +0000

So in 1955, when Disney released “Lady and the Tramp”, they knew that they were going to pass a copyright extension in 1998?

By: Jemmy

Jemmy — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:29:00 +0000

“When Disney made the movie, they expected it to be in the public domain, today!” — Au contraire; The Walt Disney Corp. has been the biggest single force driving copyright term extension. If you’ll notice, the last two copyright extension acts were passed just before the copyright on “Steamboat Willie” (the first appearance of Mickey Mouse) was due to expire. The 1998 Copyright Extension Act, at least, was bought and paid for by Disney’s fat political contributions. So maybe “Lady and the Tramp” isn’t the best example to use here.

edit: a couple quick references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20020305_sprigman.html

By: Matthew Jones

Matthew Jones — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:43:00 +0000

I’d like to see God-Man’s take on the evil arch-villain, Mitt The Newt!

By: Trip Edgerton

Trip Edgerton — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:27:00 +0000

Bill Gates has kids too ya know.

By: SomeGuyNamedMark

SomeGuyNamedMark — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:42:00 +0000

Wait until they require electric shock therapy to purge memories of works unless you have a long term memory license.

By: citykids

citykids — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:36:00 +0000

Why would Bill Gates be downloading Lady and the Tramp?

By: neddyo

neddyo — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:03:00 +0000

How does one pronounce “Mekxarxt?” When is the omnipotent God Man going to whip up some copyright-protected t-shirts for us, eh?

By: unit_1421

unit_1421 — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:34:00 +0000

If he’d do that to eBay I’d feel better.

By: Hollando

Hollando — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:20:00 +0000

Tune in next week, when God-Man destroys all public libraries, and prevents browsing in bookstores!