[Plura-list] It all started with a mouse

Fri Dec 15 11:34:35 EST 2023

Read today's issue online at: https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/15/mouse-liberation-front/

Today's links

* It all started with a mouse: A masterclass on the public domain, fair use and trademark.

* Hey look at this: Delights to delectate.

* This day in history: 2003, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2022

* Colophon: Recent publications, upcoming/recent appearances, current writing projects, current reading

_,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_

👘 It all started with a mouse

For the public domain, time stopped in 1998, when the Sonny Bono Copyright Act froze copyright expirations for 20 years. In 2019, time started again, with a massive crop of works from 1923 returning to the public domain, free for all to use and adapt:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2019/

No one is better at conveying the power of the public domain than Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, who run the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain. For years leading up to 2019, the pair published an annual roundup of what we *would* have gotten from the public domain in a universe where the 1998 Act never passed. Since 2019, they've switched to celebrating what we're *actually* getting each year. Last year's was a *banger*:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/20/free-for-2023/#oy-canada

But while there's been moderate excitement at the publicdomainification of "Yes, We Have No Bananas," AA Milne's "Now We Are Six," and Sherlock Holmes, the main event that everyone's anticipated arrives on January 1, 2024, when Mickey Mouse enters the public domain.

The first appearance of Mickey Mouse was in 1928's Steamboat Willie. Disney was critical to the lobbying efforts that extended copyright in 1976 and again in 1998, so much so that the 1998 Act is sometimes called the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. Disney and its allies were so effective at securing these regulatory gifts that many people doubted that this day would ever come. Surely Disney would secure another retrospective copyright term extension before Jan 1, 2024. I had long arguments with comrades about this - people like Project Gutenberg founder Michael S Hart (RIP) were fatalistically *certain* the public domain would never come back.

But they were wrong. The public outrage over copyright term extensions came too late to stave off the slow-motion arson of the 1976 and 1998 Acts, but it was sufficient to keep a third extension away from the USA. Canada wasn't so lucky: Justin Trudeau let Trump bully him into taking 20 years' worth of works out of Canada's public domain in the revised NAFTA agreement, making swathes of works by living Canadian authors illegal at the stroke of a pen, in a gift to the distant descendants of long-dead foreign authors.

Now, with Mickey's liberation bare days away, there's a mounting sense of excitement and unease. Will Mickey *actually* be free? The answer is a resounding YES! (albeit with a few caveats). In a prelude to this year's public domain roundup, Jennifer Jenkins has published a full and delightful guide to The Mouse and IP from Jan 1 on:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/

Disney *loves* the public domain. Its best-loved works, from *The Sorcerer's Apprentice* to *Sleeping Beauty*, *Pinnocchio* to *The Little Mermaid*, are gorgeous, thoughtful, and lively reworkings of material from the public domain. Disney loves the public domain - we just wish it would *share*.

Disney loves copyright's other flexibilities, too, like fair use. Walt told the papers that he took his inspiration for *Steamboat Willie* from Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks, making fair use of their performances to imbue Mickey with his mischief and derring do. Disney loves fair use - we just wish it would *share*.

Disney loves copyright's *limitations*. *Steamboat Willie* was inspired by Buster Keaton's silent film *Steamboat Bill* (titles aren't copyrightable). Disney loves copyright's limitations - we just wish it would *share*.

As Jenkins writes, Disney's relationship to copyright is wildly contradictory. It's the poster child for the public domain's power as a source of inspiration for worthy (and profitable) new works. It's also the chief villain in the impoverishment and near-extinction of the public domain. Truly, every pirate wants to be an admiral.

Disney's reliance on - and sabotage of - the public domain is ironic. Jenkins compares it to "an oil company relying on solar power to run its rigs." Come January 1, Disney will *have* to share.

Now, if you've heard anything about this, you've probably been told that Mickey isn't *really* entering the public domain. Between trademark claims and later copyrightable elements of Mickey's design, Mickey's status will be too complex to understand. That's *totally* wrong.

Jenkins illustrates the relationship between these three elements in (what else) a Mickey-shaped Venn diagram. Topline: you can use all the elements of Mickey that are present in *Steamboat Willie,* along with *some* elements that were added later, *provided* that you make it clear that your work isn't affiliated with Disney.

Let's unpack that. The copyrightable status of a character *used* to be vague and complex, but several high-profile cases have brought clarity to the question. The big one is Les Klinger's case against the Arthur Conan Doyle estate over Sherlock Holmes. That case established that when a character appears in both public domain and copyrighted works, the character is in the public domain, and you are "free to copy story elements from the public domain works":

https://freesherlock.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/klinger-order-on-motion-for-summary-judgment-c.pdf

This case was appealed all the way to the Supreme Court, who declined to hear it. It's *settled law*.

So, which parts of Mickey aren't going into the public domain? Elements that came later: white eyes with pupils, white gloves, color. But that doesn't mean you can't add eyes with *different* pupils, or *different* gloves, or *different* colorways. The idea of a eyes with pupils is not copyrightable - only the specific eyes that Disney added.

Other later elements that don't qualify for copyright: a squeaky mouse voice, being adorable, doing jaunty dances, etc. These are all generic characteristics of cartoon mice, and they're free for you to use. Jenkins is more cautious on whether you can give your Mickey red shorts. She judges that "a single, bright, primary color for an article of clothing does not meet the copyrightability threshold" but without settled law, you might wanna change the colors.

But what about trademark? For years, Disney has included a clip from *Steamboat Willie* at the start of each of its films. Many observers characterized this as a bid to create a de facto perpetual copyright, by making *Steamboat Willie* inescapably associated with products from Disney, weaving an impassable web of trademark tripwires around it.

But trademark doesn't prevent you from using *Steamboat Willie*. It only prevents you from misleading consumers "into thinking your work is produced or sponsored by Disney." Trademarks don't expire so long as they're in use, but uses that don't create confusion are fair game under trademark.

Copyrights and trademarks can overlap. Mickey Mouse is a copyrighted character, but he's also an indicator that a product or service is associated with Disney. While Mickey's copyright expires in a couple weeks, his trademark doesn't. What happens to an out-of-copyright work that is still a trademark?

Luckily for us, this is also a thoroughly settled case. As in, this question was resolved in a *unanimous* 2000 Supreme Court ruling, *Comedy III v New Line*. A live trademark does *not* extend an expired copyright. As the Supremes said:

> [This would] create a species of mutant copyright law that limits the public’s federal right to copy and to use expired copyrights.

This elaborates on the Ninth Circuit's 1996 *Maljack Prods v Goodtimes Home Video Corp*:

> [Trademark][ cannot be used to circumvent copyright law. If material covered by copyright law has passed into the public domain, it cannot then be protected by the Lanham Act without rendering the Copyright Act a nullity.

Despite what you might have heard, there is *no* ambiguity here. Copyrights can't be extended through trademark. Period. Unanimous Supreme Court Decision. Boom. End of story. Done.

But even so, there *are* trademark *considerations* in how you use Steamboat Willie after Jan 1, but these considerations are about protecting the public, not Disney shareholders. Your uses can't be misleading. People who buy or view your Steamboat Willie media or products have to be totally clear that your work comes from you, not Disney.

Avoiding confusion will be very hard for some uses, like plush toys, or short idents at the beginning of feature films. For most uses, though, a prominent disclaimer will suffice. The copyright page for my 2003 debut novel *Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom* contains this disclaimer:

> This novel is a work of fiction, set in an imagined future. All the characters and events portrayed in this book, including the imagined future of the Magic Kingdom, are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. The Walt Disney Company has not authorized or endorsed this novel.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250196385/downandoutinthemagickingdom

Here's the Ninth Circuit again:

> When a public domain work is copied, along with its title, there is little likelihood of confusion when even the most minimal steps are taken to distinguish the publisher of the original from that of the copy. The public is receiving just what it believes it is receiving—the work with which the title has become associated. The public is not only unharmed, it is unconfused.

Trademark has many exceptions. The First Amendment protects your right to use trademarks in expressive ways, for example, to recreate famous paintings with Barbie dolls:

https://www.copyright.gov/fair-use/summaries/mattel-walkingmountain-9thcir2003.pdf

And then there's "nominative use": it's not a trademark violation to use a trademark to accurately describe a trademarked thing. "We fix iPhones" is not a trademark violation. Neither is 'Works with HP printers.' This goes double for "expressive" uses of trademarks in new works of art:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_v._Grimaldi

What about "dilution"? Trademark protects a small number of superbrands from uses that "impair the distinctiveness or harm the reputation of the famous mark, even when there is no consumer confusion." Jenkins says that the Mickey silhouette and the current Mickey character designs might be entitled to protection from dilution, but Steamboat Willie doesn't make the cut.

Jenkins closes with a celebration of the public domain's ability to inspire new works, like Disney's *Three Musketeers*, Disney's *Christmas Carol*, Disney's *Beauty and the Beast*, Disney's *Around the World in 80 Days*, Disney's *Alice in Wonderland*, Disney's *Snow White*, Disney's *Hunchback of Notre Dame*, Disney's *Sleeping Beauty*, Disney's *Cinderella*, Disney's *Little Mermaid*, Disney's *Pinocchio*, Disney's *Huck Finn*, Disney's *Robin Hood*, and Disney's *Aladdin*. These are some of the best-loved films of the past century, and made Disney a leading example of what talented, creative people can do with the public domain.

As of January 1, Disney will start to be an example of what talented, creative people give *back* to the public domain, joining Dickens, Dumas, Carroll, Verne, de Villeneuve, the Brothers Grimm, Twain, Hugo, Perrault and Collodi.

Public domain day is 17 days away. Creators of all kinds: start your engines!

_,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_

👘 Hey look at this

* The New Hatbox Ghost in Orlando https://longforgottenhauntedmansion.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-new-hatbox-ghost-in-orlando.html

* Hey. We're Back. https://jezebel.com/hey-were-back-1851088809

* World’s Richest Families Got $1.5 Trillion Richer in 2023 https://themorningnews.com/news/2023/12/09/worlds-richest-families-got-1-5-trillion-richer-in-2023/ (h/t Naked Capitalism)

_,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_

👘 This day in history

#20yrsago Hack your Xbox, get illegally converged https://web.archive.org/web/20040204193548/http://news.com.com/2009-1043-5113192.html

#20yrsago JWZ on RFID credit cards https://www.jwz.org/blog/2003/12/more-rfid-stupidity-on-the-horizon/

#20yrsago Flocking CGI orcs are too smart to stand and fight https://forums.cgsociety.org/t/smart-soldiers-decided-to-flee-the-rings-battle-article-about-lotr-massive/730366

#20yrsago Sf story about Saddam’s Frazetta-dealer http://www.infinitematrix.net/stories/shorts/script_doctoring_apocalypse.html

#15yrsago Australian court rules that Facebook “Wall” scribbles are legal notice https://www.smh.com.au/technology/lawyers-to-serve-notices-on-facebook-20081216-gdt6su.html

#15yrsago Send your old shoes to Dubya’s Liberry https://web.archive.org/web/20081217060336/https://fightingliberals.com/2008/12/old-shoes-update.html

#15yrsago Expert responds to Brit politico who swore to make more copyright despite admitted facts https://www.ft.com/content/ba280756-ca07-11dd-93e5-000077b07658

#10yrsago New Yorker on Kim Stanley Robinson: “Our Greatest Political Novelist” https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/our-greatest-political-novelist

#10yrsago Bike helmets and safety: a case study in difficult epidemiology https://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f3817?ijkey=I5vHBog6FhaaLzX&keytype=ref

#10yrsago Shareholder sues IBM for spying on China, wiping $12.9B off its market cap https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/12/us-ibm-lawsuit-idUSBRE9BB1BP20131212/

#10yrsago EU politicans who got raises worked less; MEPs with pay-cuts worked more https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/14/politicans-pay-work-ethic-meps

#10yrsago HOWTO make gingerbread polyhedral dice http://ournerdhome.com/gingerbread-d20/

#10yrsago Amazon takes away access to purchased Christmas movie during Christmas https://memex.craphound.com/2013/12/15/amazon-takes-away-access-to-purchased-christmas-movie-during-christmas/

#10yrsago Getting your head around the Pentagon’s titanic, enormous, unauditably large budget https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/12/pentagon-budget-deal-charts-cuts/

#5yrsago Trump’s scandal-haunted Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is out https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46580094

#5yrsago Trump’s acting Chief of Staff in 2016: Trump is a “terrible human being” https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-next-chief-of-staff-called-him-a-terrible-human-being-just-before-he-was-elected-president?ref=scroll

#5yrsago The Bleeding Edge: a terrifying, enraging look at the corrupt, deadly world of medical implants https://memex.craphound.com/2018/12/15/the-bleeding-edge-a-terrifying-enraging-look-at-the-corrupt-deadly-world-of-medical-implants/

#1yrago How cable monopolists tricked conservatives into shooting themselves in the face https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/15/useful-idiotsuseful-idiots/#unrequited-love

_,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_

👘 Colophon

Today's top sources: Jennifer Jenkins (https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd).

Currently writing:

* A Little Brother short story about DIY insulin PLANNING

* Picks and Shovels, a Martin Hench noir thriller about the heroic era of the PC. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS JAN 2025

* The Bezzle, a Martin Hench noir thriller novel about the prison-tech industry. FORTHCOMING TOR BOOKS FEB 2024

* Vigilant, Little Brother short story about remote invigilation. FORTHCOMING ON TOR.COM

* Spill, a Little Brother short story about pipeline protests. FORTHCOMING ON TOR.COM

Latest podcast: Daddy-Daughter Podcast, 2023 edition https://craphound.com/news/2023/12/10/daddy-daughter-podcast-2023-edition/)

Upcoming appearances:

* Internet Con (Peculiar Book Club), Jan 11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5UvzuJ1R4I

Recent appearances:

* Science Fiction and the Future of Science
https://council.science/podcast/science-fiction/

*  AI needs to work with humans — not replace us (CBC IDEAS)
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/artificial-intelligence-provocation-ideas-festival-1.7046841

*  Explore the Future of the 🔥 Climate and Information Climate (Andrew Revkin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OGT-cvs4_Q

Latest books:

* "The Lost Cause:" a solarpunk novel of hope in the climate emergency, Tor Books (US), Head of Zeus (UK), November 2023 (http://lost-cause.org). Signed, personalized copies at Dark Delicacies (https://www.darkdel.com/store/p3007/Pre-Order_Signed_Copies%3A_The_Lost_Cause_HB.html#/)

* "The Internet Con": A nonfiction book about interoperability and Big Tech (Verso) September 2023 (http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org). Signed copies at Book Soup (https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245).

* "Red Team Blues": "A grabby, compulsive thriller that will leave you knowing more about how the world works than you did before." Tor Books http://redteamblues.com. Signed copies at Dark Delicacies (US): and Forbidden Planet (UK): https://forbiddenplanet.com/385004-red-team-blues-signed-edition-hardcover/.

* "Chokepoint Capitalism: How to Beat Big Tech, Tame Big Content, and Get Artists Paid, with Rebecca Giblin", on how to unrig the markets for creative labor, Beacon Press/Scribe 2022 https://chokepointcapitalism.com

* "Attack Surface": The third Little Brother novel, a standalone technothriller for adults. The *Washington Post* called it "a political cyberthriller, vigorous, bold and savvy about the limits of revolution and resistance." Order signed, personalized copies from Dark Delicacies https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1840/Available_Now%3A_Attack_Surface.html

* "How to Destroy Surveillance Capitalism": an anti-monopoly pamphlet analyzing the true harms of surveillance capitalism and proposing a solution. https://onezero.medium.com/how-to-destroy-surveillance-capitalism-8135e6744d59?sk=f6cd10e54e20a07d4c6d0f3ac011af6b) (signed copies: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2024/Available_Now%3A__How_to_Destroy_Surveillance_Capitalism.html)

* "Little Brother/Homeland": A reissue omnibus edition with a new introduction by Edward Snowden: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250774583; personalized/signed copies here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p1750/July%3A__Little_Brother_%26_Homeland.html

* "Poesy the Monster Slayer" a picture book about monsters, bedtime, gender, and kicking ass. Order here: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781626723627. Get a personalized, signed copy here: https://www.darkdel.com/store/p2682/Corey_Doctorow%3A_Poesy_the_Monster_Slayer_HB.html#/.

Upcoming books:

* The Bezzle: a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about prison-tech and other grifts, Tor Books, February 2024

* Picks and Shovels: a sequel to "Red Team Blues," about the heroic era of the PC, Tor Books, February 2025

* Unauthorized Bread: a graphic novel adapted from my novella about refugees, toasters and DRM, FirstSecond, 2025

This work - excluding any serialized fiction - is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. That means you can use it any way you like, including commercially, provided that you attribute it to me, Cory Doctorow, and include a link to pluralistic.net.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Quotations and images are not included in this license; they are included either under a limitation or exception to copyright, or on the basis of a separate license. Please exercise caution.

_,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,__,.-'~'-.,_

👘 How to get Pluralistic:

Blog (no ads, tracking, or data-collection):

Pluralistic.net

Newsletter (no ads, tracking, or data-collection):

https://pluralistic.net/plura-list

Mastodon (no ads, tracking, or data-collection):

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic

Medium (no ads, paywalled):

https://doctorow.medium.com/

Twitter (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising):

https://twitter.com/doctorow

Tumblr (mass-scale, unrestricted, third-party surveillance and advertising):

https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/tagged/pluralistic

"*When life gives you SARS, you make sarsaparilla*" -Joey "Accordion Guy" DeVilla
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: OpenPGP_0xBF3D9110957E5F4C.asc
Type: application/pgp-keys
Size: 4820 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP public key
URL: <http://mail.flarn.com/pipermail/plura-list/attachments/20231215/6ae13d27/attachment.bin>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: OpenPGP_signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 840 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://mail.flarn.com/pipermail/plura-list/attachments/20231215/6ae13d27/attachment.sig>