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March 28, 2024, 01:52:39 PM

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Mickey Mouse is up for grabs as copyright expires.

Started by Phoenix Lazarus, July 03, 2022, 02:56:31 PM

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flotemysost

I always found Mickey Mouse a bit creepy; however, we've had a sporadic rodent infestation in our flat over the last few months and after zero sightings for ages, my flatmate texted our WhatsApp group the other day with the starkly ominous "MICKEY IS BACK", and now I can't shake the horrible feeling that one of these days I'll find the cheery anthropomorphic cunt lifeless in one of the traps the pest control bloke put down, gloved hands stiffly by his side, shorts straining over his bloated abdomen, a jovial rictus frozen on his face.

Replies From View

It's still there in that freezer, his head.  People keep moving it aside to fit other heads in, and every now and then people take it out entirely, put a couple of smaller heads down into the gaps a bit lower down, and put his head back on top of the pile.  Once or twice they have forgotten to put it back in and it's been left out for a couple of hours, so it has had a few instances of defrosting and refreezing; I wouldn't recommend you eat it.

Sherman Krank

Quote from: touchingcloth on July 03, 2022, 06:43:58 PMWhen does copyright expire? I thought it was after 50 years meaning that Mick would have been public property decades ago.
In the US it was changed in 1998 to the lifetime of the creator plus 50 years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Term_Extension_Act

Disney still have a couple of years to 'persuade' politicians and judges to find a way of extending it again.

Quote from: Replies From View on July 03, 2022, 08:07:18 PMThis is quite bonkers really, considering it's their corporate mascot.  (I assume, unless it's been phased out over time?)

Will McDonald's eventually lose the right to use their double arches logo?  I've never really thought about this and I suppose that relatively speaking all this corporate branding shite has been around for a very short time.  Really funny if it turns out that quite soon any fucker could start putting a Nike tick on their products.
The arches and tick are trademarks which is a different thing.
In the US trademarks expire after 10 years but can be infinitely renewed for another 10 years as long as the holder can show it's still in use.

idunnosomename

Quote from: Replies From View on July 03, 2022, 08:07:18 PMThis is quite bonkers really, considering it's their corporate mascot.  (I assume, unless it's been phased out over time?)

Will McDonald's eventually lose the right to use their double arches logo?  I've never really thought about this and I suppose that relatively speaking all this corporate branding shite has been around for a very short time.  Really funny if it turns out that quite soon any fucker could start putting a Nike tick on their products.
no because these are trademarks. as long as a company can prove they are still in use they remain protected.

the main issue here is that the creative work Steamboat Willie (1928) is going to eventually enter public domain in 2024 after the Disney corporation had lobbied congress to extend it before. the more recognisable red-breeches versions of Mickey will probably still be contested if anyone dares paint a perfect version of him above "MIND THAT CHILD"

Fishfinger

#34
Quote from: Replies From View on July 03, 2022, 09:58:02 PMOnce or twice they have forgotten to put it back in and it's been left out for a couple of hours, so it has had a few instances of defrosting and refreezing; I wouldn't recommend you eat it.

That's why some mums don't return from Iceland. And/or their children die.

shoulders

Quote from: bgmnts on July 03, 2022, 05:00:40 PMI want to see Mickey Mouse as a ruthless capitalist buying up everything in the film, basically a Daniel Plainview type, and ends the film raping and draining every property on earth, leaving him lying in bed hardly able to breathe.

South Park kind of did that. Worth a look if you didn't see.

bgmnts

Quote from: shoulders on July 03, 2022, 10:16:05 PMSouth Park kind of did that. Worth a look if you didn't see.

Yeah that's where I got the image from because I'm incredibly unoriginal. I'd like to see a full film of it though!

non capisco

#37
Such a nothingy cartoon character considering his level of worldwide fame. I'm struggling to remember any of his characteristics beyond "high voice, owned a dog". At least his duck mate had a bit of piss and vinegar about him. As far as I can tell Mickey Mouse's antics stretched to driving a boat and whistling. Yeah, that'll knock the kids bandy for years, Walt.

One of my history lecturers told us that when WW2 was declared the BBC shut down half way through a Mickey Mouse cartoon and then when service resumed in 1945 the first thing they showed was the cartoon from the exact point they'd curtailed it. The one interesting thing about Mickey Mouse and it turned out not to be true.

He did inspire a brilliant Sparks tune, though. I'll give the boring little bellend that.


Gurke and Hare

Quote from: non capisco on July 03, 2022, 10:46:24 PMSuch a nothingy cartoon character considering his level of worldwide fame. I'm struggling to remember any of his characteristics beyond "high voice, owned a dog".

And weirdly also had a friend that was a dog.

madhair60

i like mickey mouse mostly because of Castle of Illusion, World of Illusion, Land of Illusion and to a lesser extent the Magical Quest series of games.

non capisco

 
Quote from: Gurke and Hare on July 03, 2022, 10:50:03 PMAnd weirdly also had a friend that was a dog.

Well, let's not open that can of worms.

idunnosomename

yes as Worms is still the lucrative intellectual property of Team17

touchingcloth

Quote from: idunnosomename on July 03, 2022, 10:55:28 PMyes as Worms is still the lucrative intellectual property of Team17

This is still a matter of dispute and the courts are deciding whether the rights to worms are owned by Team17 or the pope's nutritional regime.

Fishfinger

Quote from: touchingcloth on July 03, 2022, 11:39:17 PMThis is still a matter of dispute and the courts are deciding whether the rights to worms are owned by Team17 or the pope's nutritional regime.

To be honest, I think at this point it's less a legal matter than it is an urgent medical issue, because those worms are squirming around in his pants. I mean, c'mon. Give the Pope a break.

Replies From View

Quote from: Fishfinger on July 03, 2022, 11:58:33 PMTo be honest, I think at this point it's less a legal matter than it is an urgent medical issue, because those worms are squirming around in his pants. I mean, c'mon. Give the Pope a break.

Not sure a KitKat up his anus will really resolve the overriding issue.


idunnosomename

the Papacy begins litigation over the Holy Hand Grenade

touchingcloth

Quote from: Fishfinger on July 04, 2022, 12:02:13 AMWorth a try.

John Paul II was onto chunkies and five finger bars by his last days in office.

Replies From View

I agree with everyone who says Mickey was a characterless void.  He had that same vapid goody two shoes vibe as Soo from Sooty and Sweep, albeit whilst being on the surface 'one of the lads'.  He sucked the joy out of everything he was in.  In episodes focusing on Pluto, Mickey became the angry master figure seen from the waist down, like the woman in Tom and Jerry.  And in the ones he shared with Goofy and Donald, he was just a cheery optimist without any other traits.

Here's Mickey's Trailer, one of my favourites.  Here he's just being one of the gang, and his character purpose seems to be to do right the jobs that everyone else would get wrong (a veritable Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap):  https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xyo3jc

Fishfinger

Popes resemble those chocolate-loving, pants-dwelling worms in so many ways. Generally, they are better dressed, but do not be deceived.

idunnosomename

Soo is very funny in the Sooty Show when she loses her shit and becomes excessively authoritarian. not really the original idea but what she became in the 90s anyway.

but Mickey never became anything funny. I know they've tried a number of reimaginings of him but he's such a boring character on every level it never works

Replies From View

Imagine if someone acquired the Mickey Mouse copyright but then fused the character permanently forever with The Pink Panther.

Ray Travez


Replies From View

Quote from: Ray Travez on July 04, 2022, 01:40:27 AMeven stranger, grew up a cow

I don't find that so strange.  It's the two universes of cartoon dog co-existing that blows my mind.

Donald Duck was funnier with his irascibility and so was Goofy with his gauchiness and Southern gentleman persona.

kalowski

In comparison to the Warner Bros characters Disney were shit.

Blue Jam


touchingcloth

Did Mickey have his own dedicated cartoon? In my memory he was just a corporate avatar who was slotted into a suitable placeholder in a cartoon, so in Fantasia they stuck Mickey in the sorcerer's apprentice's hole, and in Mickey and the Beanstalk they crammed him into Jack's. For all his charisma they may have well have had a walking Nike tick play the part of Bob Cratchit.

idunnosomename

He had a lot of shorts throughout the 30s. By the end of the decade though he was slipping more into mascot territory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Mouse_(film_series)

I remember that Runaway Brain from 1995 that was one of a few efforts to give him a more macabre twist.

Sonny_Jim

Quote from: idunnosomename on July 04, 2022, 12:37:22 AMSoo is very funny in the Sooty Show when she loses her shit and becomes excessively authoritarian.
Honestly, lose both Sue and Sooty and just have Sweep going on Dali-esque adventures in search of sausages.