Public domain is a good place, and I think you and Minnie are going to like it there. You are moving into a terrific neighborhood. There’s Paul Bunyan and Tom Sawyer next door. And across the pond in Britain, you’ll see Alice in Wonderland, King Arthur and Robin Hood. Across the English channel, you see the Little Mermaid and Snow White and Hansel and Gretel. A little further south, there’s Aladdin and Ali Babba, and further south, across the Sahara, there’s Anansi, Brer rabbit and Fumo Liongo.
So, it’s a small world after all.
Now I know there was a lot of controversy about the way you had to stick with Disney for an extra 20 years because of the Sony Bono Copyright Extension Act. The legal team from Harvard, you know, Eric Eldred and Larry Lessig and those guys, tried to appeal the act. They told the courts that they were worried the “extension” would be extended again, which would lead to an unconstitutional situation with perpetual copyrights. But in 2003 the Supreme Court said that was the business of Congress, and gave the issue a judicial pass ( in Eldred v Ashcroft).
But now its 2024, and as it turns out, you didn’t break the Constitution, Mickey. It’s a pretty strong contract, and some of us were probably too worried. Twenty years went by, and now you and Minnie are packing your bags and sailing off to live among your old friends.
It’s not really retirement, you’ll be glad to hear. There are all kinds of new ideas popping up around public domain figures like yourself. Yes, its true, not all of them are family-friendly, but that’s life in a free country. The First Amendment protects the good, the bad and the ugly. Yes, I agree, there’s a little too much of those latter categories.
But you’ll always be one of the good guys, Mickey, so don’t let it get you down. The arc of history is long, but it always arrives at justice in the end.
Here’s hoping you and Minnie enjoy your golden years.
