For most of the 20th century, copyright – which protects creative works from exploitation by anyone except the original creator – was governed by a law passed by Congress in 1909. Under that law, copyrights were good for 28 years and could be renewed once. Thus, a work created, say, in 1930 would have been good for a maximum of 56 years: 28 years, plus another 28 if the copyright owner filed the papers to extend it.
Then in 1976, Congress passed a new copyright law, which took effect in 1978. It got rid of the 28+28 formula. Instead, copyrights created by individuals were thereafter good for the author's lifetime plus 50 years. Corporate copyrights were good for 75 years.
But any copyrights that had been extended so that they were still in effect in 1978 were "grandfathered" under the new law. So if a corporation owned a copyright created in, say, 1928, and it had been extended to its maximum length of 56 years, it was due to expire in 1984. But the 1976 law meant that it would now be good until 2003 – that is, for the full 75 years under the new law.
Everything remained quiet until the end of the century approached, when two actors began tinkering with copyright law again. One of them was Salvatore Phillip Bono, much better known as Sonny Bono. Bono's career had started in the early 1960s as half the singing duo "Sonny and Cher." Bono had been the one who wrote many of the songs that the duo had turned into hits, and later in life he won a seat as a Republican congressman representing Palm Springs, California.
Bono wanted to pass a bill making copyrights good in perpetuity, but was prevented from doing so by a provision of the Constitution, which gives Congress the power to "promote the . . . useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors . . . the exclusive Right to their . . . Writings." So Congress can provide copyright protection to work only for "limited Times." Under the 1976 law, that meant the life of the author plus 50 years, or the 75-year corporate copyright.
The second force seeking a change to copyright law was the Walt Disney corporation, which was lobbying for an extension of the 1976 Act. As it happened, a copyright due to expire in 2003 was that of Mickey Mouse, who had first been introduced in 1928 in the world's first "talkie" cartoon, "Steamboat Willie."
Bono sponsored a bill in 1995 that would have extended copyrights for 21 years. And then in January, 1998, he had an unfortunate run-in (literally and figuratively) with a tree while skiing. In honor of their late colleague, the law he had sponsored was quickly renamed the "Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act." With a bit more tinkering, it extended existing copyrights for 20 years. All copyrights are now good for the life of the "author" plus 70 years; corporate copyrights are now good for 95 years.
The law was less-flatteringly known as the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act," because of Disney being the most tireless advocate for the extension. All of Disney's works created since 1928 are still under the protection of the 1998 extension, although some works created in 1923-1927 have already passed into public domain, meaning that their copyrights have expired and they no longer have copyright protection.
Mickey, and any early works featuring him that date from 1928, are set to expire in less than six months – on January 1, 2023. But as a lot of folks have predicted, Disney is once again agitating for another extension.
Ironically, it was a Republican Congress that passed the 1998 extension. But Disney has lost support among the Republican Party these days, mainly because it opposed (albeit mildly) Florida's "Don't Say Gay" law that prohibits discussing things like sexual orientation with younger students. In retaliation, the State of Florida stripped Disney of the special governmental status it had had in that state since 1968, and support for the copyright extension dropped among Republicans in Congress. Of course, the Democrats, who might have been hesitant to grant another extension anyway, hold tiny majorities in both houses of Congress, so the fate of another extension is uncertain.
For now, therefore, we'll have to wait until January 1, 2023 to see whether we'll all be able to sell Mickey Mouse memorabilia even without Disney's permission.
Frank Zotter, Jr. is a Ukiah attorney.
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