Cut The Cheese
Monday, September 29th, 2003 @ 11:46 am | Uncategorized
In upholding Congress’s copyright extension, the Supreme Court has guaranteed Disney’s lock on Mickey until the year 2023. But the Air Pirates’ comics, which now fetch prices in the $100 range, retain an unexpected freshness. Unlike most hippie artifacts, the strips — with their uncanny stylistic echoes of the golden age of cartooning — haven’t aged. Although enemies in the courtroom, the satirists and their target are bound together in a shared aesthetic.
Who were the Air Pirates, you ask? They were a group of underground cartoonists led by “Ods Bodkins” creator Dan O’Neill that also included London, “Dopin’ Dan” creator Ted Richards, “Trots and Bonnie’s” Shary Flenniken, and signpainter turned cartoonist Gary Halgren. Their notoriety rested on the two issues of the Air Pirates underground comic that caused the entire group (with the exception of Flenniken) to be sued by Walt Disney Productions for copyright infringement. What prompted the suit was the lead stories in each issue, written and drawn by Dan O’Neill, that depicted Mickey and Minnie Mouse having sex, getting high and smuggling drugs.
Walt Disney Productions v. Air Pirates
How Dan O’Neill “won” the Air Pirates case
The Hippie Years
The Mouse That Ate The Public Domain
Rather than allow Mickey and friends to enter the public domain, Disney and its friends - a group of Hollywood studios, music labels, and PACs representing content owners - told Congress that they wanted an extension bill passed.
Congress Enacts a Mickey Mouse Law and Legislation for the New Millennium
The new term of copyright, for works created after January 1, 1978, will be the life of the author plus 70 years. For works made for hire, and anonymous and pseudonymous works, the term will be 120 years from creation or 95 years from first publication, whichever occurs first. And for works created prior to 1978 whose terms have not yet expired, the term will be 95 years from first publication (or the date of registration if prior to publication).
Free Speech Same as Free Content?
The worry is that applying First Amendment scrutiny to copyright law jeopardizes the entire concept of copyright — which by its nature restricts the public’s right to expression by giving owners a limited period of control over their works.
Buy Me - The Pirates and the Mouse: Disney’s War Against the Underground
Review: Dan O’Neill’s underground war against Disney
Recently
Leave a Reply