Author Archives: MarciaHigginbot

Is the Jig Finally Up for Mickey Mouse?

by MarciaHigginbot Posted on October 25, 2013

Mother Jones

As you all know, copyright terms have been steadily lengthened via congressional action. Currently, the term is the life of the author plus 70 years. For works authored by corporations—Superman, Mickey Mouse, etc.—the term is 95 years. Thanks to a retroactive clause passed in 1976, the magic cutoff year for corporate creations is currently 1922. Anything published in 1922 or before is in the public domain. Anything after that is still under copyright.

So what happens in 2018? That’s only five years away! Well, it’s 95 years from 1923, which means that works published in 1923 fall out of copyright. Every year after that, more and more old works enter the public domain. And in 2023 the boom falls: Mickey Mouse will no longer be under copyright.

Will Disney put up with this? Or will they team up with the usual suspects to get the term of copyright extended even further? Tim Lee gives us the lay of the land here.

UPDATE: Sorry, but I bolloxed up the explanation of why 1922 is the current cutoff year for copyright. It’s fixed now.

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Is the Jig Finally Up for Mickey Mouse?

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Arr, matey: Russia charges Greenpeace protesters with piracy

by MarciaHigginbot Posted on October 9, 2013

Arr, matey: Russia charges Greenpeace protesters with piracy

By

Shutterstock

Dressing like this for the protest was the Greenpeace activists’ biggest mistake.

We told you recently that Russian law enforcement suggested that Greenpeace activists violated anti-piracy laws when they scaled the country’s first offshore drilling rig. And we told you that even President Vladimir Putin scoffed at the notion that the activists were ‘pirates’ — given that they were obviously protesters, not looters.

But the cops have persisted, charging all 30 aboard the Greenpeace ship, including journalists, with piracy — a crime that could see them each jailed for up to 15 years.

On Tuesday, a Russian court denied bail to three accused Russians, including a freelance journalist, during a hearing. Other nationals are due to receive their days in court later this week. From Reuters:

Greenpeace says the piracy charges against the activists and crew members are absurd and unfounded and that the conditions of detention have in some cases violated their rights.

“They are now prisoners of conscience, and as such they are the responsibility of the world,” said Kumi Naidoo, head of Greenpeace International.

The Netherlands launched legal proceedings against Russia on Friday, saying it had unlawfully detained the activists and others on the Dutch-registered icebreaker Arctic Sunrise.

On Wednesday, Greenpeace’s international executive director offered to stand in as security for the release of the 30 activists on bail. “I would offer myself as a guarantor for the good conduct of the Greenpeace activists, were they to be released on bail,” Kumi Naidoo wrote in a letter to Putin that was seen by Reuters, offering to move to Russia “for the duration of this affair.”


Source
Russia denies bail to three held over Greenpeace Arctic protest, Reuters

John Upton is a science fan and green news boffin who tweets, posts articles to Facebook, and blogs about ecology. He welcomes reader questions, tips, and incoherent rants: johnupton@gmail.com.

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Arr, matey: Russia charges Greenpeace protesters with piracy

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