Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Griffen_07 t1_j2ajbr0 wrote

Disney is the default reason. They have done everything possible to protect the Mouse. The moment Steam Boat Wiley, the first appearance of Mickey, hit the public domain they made it the animation studio trademark.

27

AlonnaReese t1_j2c68cf wrote

It wasn't just Disney. Europe also played a significant role because they had longer copyright terms than the US did. For example, the UK was using the life of the author +50 rule when American copyright was still a fixed term of 28 years. There was pressure from the EU for the US to extend its copyright length in order to harmonize with Europe.

4