|
Up to the minute notes on the current state of free thinking and free living: Kentucky moonshine - original analysis and reporting from MoreThings, and all round pop culture museum of sight and sound - photo galleries, mp3 and video downloads.
Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
Live free or die!
----
|
November 18, 2002
Mickey Mouse corporate welfare aka Free the Mouse!
Mickey Mouse made his public debut on this day in history, November 18, 1928 in "Steamboat Willie." That makes him a 74 year old mouse- older than Mr. Jingles, the unnaturally long lived mouse from The Green Mile.
The idea of copyright really is not the simple fact of nature that we often take it for these days. Ownership of an idea is an odd abstraction when you pull back from the idea mentally. An idea isn't, after all, a THING, like a blanket or a car. Ownership of ideas was not common before the US came along.
America's founding fathers wanted to incentivize writing and composing. They also recognized that granting of exclusivity in ideas was a great limitation on the traditional freedoms of other people using pieces of things in the public domain as building blocks for new ideas and variations. Here then is the entirety of authorization for congress to create copyright law in the US Constitution (from Article I) "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries"
In practice, until the last century "limited times" meant an exclusive copyright for 14 years, which could be renewed for another 14, giving a total maximum exclusive window of 28 years. Hey, if 28 years of exclusive rights isn't enough incentive for you to write a book or a song, screw it. You can go make your living driving a truck.
Of course, copyright law has been hijacked and turned into pure doubloon looting and pillaging piracy by the entertainment industry in recent years. These SOBs don't plan on ever letting anything slide into the public domain. If Hollywood and their bought and paid for congressmen had their way, every local playhouse in the world would be paying some great-great-great-great-monkeys-grand-nephew of Shakespeare every time they perform Hamlet.
Let see, then. Twenty eight years from 1928 would be 1956. That's when Mickey should have become a public domain figure. That's putting the Disney corporation now every bit of 44 years into corporate welfare with this government enforced monopoly.
It's long past time to FREE THE MOUSE!
posted by Al at 11/18/2002 02:35:00 AM
Link Soup
morethings master
photo gallery index
MP3
new album
releases
lyrics
sammy davis
little richard photos
buddy holly pictures
fats domino images
chuck berry pictures 01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
01/02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12
01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/01/
02/
03/
04/
05/
06/
07/
08/
09/
10/
11/
12/08/
09/
10/
11/
12/
la
24
lucille ball images james
blunt photos
clint eastwood pictures lena
horne images team
america pictures
robert mitchum photos
bruce springsteen pictures
mariah carey pictures
ann coulter photos
george clooney images
loretta lynn pictures
beatles pictures
white stripes pictures
andy griffith pictures
kill bill pictures
beverly hillbillies pictures
robin williams
frank zappa pictures
jerry lee lewis pictures
richard pryor photos
june carter johnny cash pictures
vic mackey shield pictures u2 photos
four seasons images
james cagney images
elvis presley pictures
country music
blog
dolly parton pictures
olsen twins photos
tom petty photos
tori amos pictures
joaquin phoenix images David
Bowie photos
Quills movie images
reese witherspoon pictures rolling
stones photos
fiona apple images kim
novak images ray charles photos marx
brothers pictures
prince rogers nelson pictures blazing
saddles images
sinead o'connor images
eddie murphy photos aretha
franklin photos
south park pictures homer
simpson images
bob dylan pictures elizabeth
taylor photos madonna
images
saturday night live pictures willie
nelson images hee
haw pictures james
brown images pete
townshend photos
tina turner pictures
dixie chicks photos
margaret thatcher photos
guns
n roses pictures
paula abdul pictures
jodie foster photos
amy winehouse
eminem
frank sinatra photos
van
halen images
satan
blondie photos
joni
mitchell pictures
merle haggard
images
rocky horror pictures
monty
python
|
|
