Slashdot Mirror
Disney Trades Person for Intellectual Property
Dotnaught writes "Walt Disney Company's ABC has traded sportscaster Al Michaels to General Electric Co.'s NBC for cartoon character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. NBC acquired the rights to the cartoon through its purchase of Universal Studios, which itself gained ownership of the animated rabbit through a contract that Walt Disney signed early in his career. Having to sign Oswald away supposedly prompted Disney to create Mickey Mouse, a character he'd own outright. The company that bears Disney's name fought tooth and nail to retain ownership of Mickey Mouse when the cartoon character's copyright was about to expire."
That should read: Disney Trades Person for Lucky Rabbit
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit looks very similar to Mickey (I haven't seen any of the films with him yet), but this is certainly a win for the whole gang at Disney -- one for Walt. Something they can all be proud of.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
(AP) At the NYSE, soul trading closed down five and a quarter points Friday afternoon. The worth of an average human soul has plummeted recently to a value not seen since the great depression. Disney has been pioneering the movement of trading souls regularly for concepts, legal action or maybe just a few dollars more.
Michael Eisner wasn't competent enough to comment.
My work here is dung.
I'll trade you my little brother for the rights to that piece of code you've got there.
Sounds like a fair trade to me.
From the mysterious future: Al Michaels commits suicide; friends cite work-related depression.
'Every story, if continued long enough, ends in death.' --Ernest Hemingway
Notice the striking resemblance between Early Mickey Mouse and Oswald the lucky Rabbit
For a second I was going to point you in Oracle's direction. Then I actually read the freaking article. Nothing like trading someone for four rounds of golf,olympic highlights, and a stupid bunny.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
Ooo man the floppy drive is broken. No wait. The computer is just upside down.
The rabbit will live in the iPod. Oswald will read his Powerbook, to gain Intel. His ferocity will grow into a dual core personality. Although we're not sure what comes NeXT, we're sure that there's no need for pesky sports announcers, after all. They just bitch and complain.
---- Teach Peace. It's Cheaper Than War.
I'm sure he's kept chained with golden handcuffs. I wouldn't mind such a deal.
Now, I'll sit up and take notice if they'll replace a news anchor with Morbo, but I don't think that'll happen any time soon. (If you don't know Morbo, you're not with the in crowd on Slashdot.)
He asked to be traded. They didn't walk into his office and say, "We traded you for a cartoon character, pack your shit and start walking." He wanted to work for NBC, NBC wanted him, and this was ABC's price for letting him go.
Um, we are talking about a SPORTS announcer here. Baseball teams trade players for cash all the time, and yet I fail to see how baseball players are "enslaved" by any means of the word...
And if that is what slavery is paying nowadays, sign me up!
Monstar L
Second of all, there was a lot more in the trade than just the cartoon. According to Media Week ESPN wanted:
(1) The cable telecast rights NBC owns to air Ryder Cup golf matches on Fridays in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014; (2) The rights to air expanded Olympics highlights on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS through the 2012 Games; and (3) The rights to the animated cartoons, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit, which were created by Disney animators in the 1920s, but distributed by Universal Studio, which got the rights to the cartoons.
and...
NBC will run an on-air promotion through 2011 for ESPN's Monday Night Football telecasts each week during its SNF telecasts... Also through 2011, ESPN obtained expanded-highlights rights for NBC Sports telecasts of Notre Dame football, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
So, I fail to see what's news here. In the entertainment business, this sort of IP and rights trading/selling happens all of the time. Saying "trading a person for a cartoon" is an incredible dumbing-down of what happened.
So tell me again what this has to do with my rights online?
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Interesting, seems the need to re-create a character due to legal IP restrictions led to a huge entertainnment empire.
The revolution will NOT be televised.
Uhhh, why is there a picture of a vag on the wikipedia page about copyright extensions?
--Nuintari
slashdot : where an opinion can be wrong.
So? There were black entertainers kept and traded the same way, not just field labor. I have never been terribly fond of the way professional sports operate either. Look at all of the performance drug scandals, the money deals, the disgusting ammount of money that is made, the relatively small ammount that makes it down to the players, the trading of bodies. Physical labor, performance enhancing drugs, big profit, trading 'players' for bigger profit, nope nothin absolutely sheisty goin on there. :( I am far more interested in college sports since the money generated there actually goes back into the college, and there just seems to be a whole lot fewer problems in that whole system too.
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
what does this have to do with online?
what does this have to do with rights?
nothing?
ok... just checking.
"It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world ...But for Oswald?" (Thomas Moore, sort of)
Apologies in advance for the attempt at humor, but it was what popped in to my head.
The current rule in US copyrights is that anything copyrighted after Mickey Mouse will always be copyrighted, as Disney manages to rent Congress whenever the latest extension is about to expire. Will this have to be changed to the Oswald the Lucky Bunny Rule, once they start marketing this motherfucker like he's new?
Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.
Dear ABC. Stop.
My name is Al Michales. Stop.
Your trading me for an ancient cartoon character. Stop.
Stop. Stop.
My resume is being worked up now. Stop.
He was UNDER CONTRACT. That's not slavery. He signed a contract that said in essence "I agree to work for ABC/ESPN for some number of years." He wanted to be released from said contract and ABC sought compensation for this. The parties came to a mutual agreement and everyone is seemingly satisfied. I just don't understand why anyone is upset about what happened.
Sorry, but that's NOT slavery. No one put a gun to his head and said "sign this contract or we shoot!"
Nothing to see here. Move along.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
It is the increasing tendancy across the board to treat people as little more than a commodity.
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
Well, at least he wasn't lost in a poker game for a DBX Console.
\Read your act of God clause.
Totally different from
1 52.html
http://forums.wdwmagic.com/archive/index.php?t-10
Disney Sues Over Teddy Bears
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- The Walt Disney Co. has sued a Swedish importer for copyright infringement and requested the destruction of 25,000 teddy bears it says are illegal replicas of Winnie the Pooh. The stuffed bears, which were made in China, were intercepted by Swedish customs in April and wear the "hunny" loving bear's trademark red shirt, according to a lawsuit filed with the district court in Malmoe, 340 miles southwest of the Swedish capital, Stockholm. They also have the same eyes, ears and nose and project "the same attitude and facial expression as Winnie the Pooh," the lawsuit said. Disney sued the importer, Malmoe-based Harle-quin Trade, to prevent the bears from being sold in Sweden, but the issue could be solved outside of court if the importer agreed to destroy the bears, attorney Ann-Charlotte Soederlund said. "Destroying teddy bears might seem a bit silly. But what if it's a pirate copy and it's dangerous and some child dies? Then Disney will be blamed," she said. Harlequin Trade president Hans Brefelt declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said his company had a "mutual understanding" with Disney. According to the lawsuit, Harlequin Trade reached a set-tlement with Disney earlier this year after trying to import alleged replicas of two other characters in the be-loved children's' stories created by British author A. A. Milne in the 1920s -- Piglet and Eeyore.
This happens all the time. In professional sports coaches and personnel not bound by the collective bargaining agreement are "traded" between teams with compensation of draft picks. Just this year Herman Edwards went from the coach of the Jets to the Cheifs, who then gave the Jets a 4th round draft pick. But even in the business world, employees have a certain dollar value associated with them. All of us do. It's fantasy to assume we are unique special snowflakes and our companies cherish that. The only difference is that there is only one Al Michaels and most of us come from a pool of interchangeable workers. The market for marquee sports announcers is not liquid so instead of just letting him go, they'll arbitrate the contract they own.
And not being able to leave is simple: Al only has to yell "Fuck the fucking fuckers" on live TV, force the FCC to hit NBC with a giant fine and then threaten to continue doing so until they let him go.
What is music when you despise all sound?
I think he and Madden make a pretty decent football announcing team
Ehh, they're OK, but Buck and Aikman are the best now. Everyone's trying to catch up to Fox these days on football. And the ESPN teams really are awful.
If Michaels is worth Oswald then I'd think that Buck is worth at least an Elmer Fudd, and Aikman is Daffy Duck-class, maybe even Roger Rabbit.
Al Williams, being a mere mortal, only has a limited time on this world. Oswald, being a copyrighted creation, can potentially live "forever," as Disney will continually lobby the government to keep extending the lifetime of copyrights.
Jeesh. All these comments about feeling bad about being traded for a rabbit are spurious.
There's a dollar value on Al Michaels contract and there's a dollar value on the copyrights to the Oswald character. Instead of exchanging dollars, they exchanged items of equivalent value. It's called "bartering" and it predates any known currency system.
What's the big deal?
Besides, it's obvious why Disney did this... as a Walt Disney creation and a forerunner to Mickey Mouse, this is an important and historic part of the Disney legacy, and it's fitting that Disney should seek to acquire the copyright.
For a distinct character/symbol like Mickey Mouse, isn't a trademark enough? Trademarks can be renewed indefinitely. Did Disney push for copyright extension primarily to protect their other IP?
If anyone actually bothered to read the article, Al Michaels said he was going to miss being with the same people who were moving to NBC. He was staying with ABC, but changed his mind later and initiated talks about getting out of his contract for ABC and signing with his friends at NBC. Slashdotters probably don't know this, but Al Michaels is a fairly popular sports announcer and ABC wasn't going to give him up for nothing. So ABC makes a list of things it wants, which happens to include the rights to Oswald. I think that is probably more of a symbolic move than anything else, though I wouldn't put it past Disney to try to milk a few movies out of it. What's old is new again. I guess the article title is accurate. Al Michaels moves to NBC, and in exchange ABC will get the rights to air certain content, so I guess Al Michaels was traded for intellectual property. I don't see the big deal, though; both networks got something of value out of the deal.
That is sort of the inequity in it. They can force you to sign a contract (if you want the job, you gotta sign), that says you can't leave, you can't work for the competition, etc etc. But you can't tell them you are quitting, because you signed the contract, but they sure as hell can fire your ass. The non compete ones are the worst ones, not only do they own you while you are there, it prevents you from doing your job for anyone else after you leave.
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
Do consider us poor readers on RSS, when writing your titles out.
Thanks,
R.
No, it hardly reminds me of slavery. Why not? Because the fundamental prerequsite of slavery -- coercion -- is nowhere to be found.
Show me an example of force or fraud, and then I'll listen to you compare it to slavery.
With the crappy job Al Michaels did covering the superbowl... they could have traded him for a bag of Doritos. I think collecting a bit of Disney history is a good deal. ESPN can actually show detailed Olympics hilights. And now that Monday Night Football is leaving ABC, this is not surprising.
Bury me in mashed potatoes.
"I wish I could quit you..."
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
Roger: PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPhhhhppPPppLLLEEASE EDDIE!?! Can I get Oswald? Please?
Iger: Only if you bring me the head of Al Michaels.
Roger: Okay! Can I bring a few rounds of golf too?
Iger: Sure, but only if they complain that Al's not enough.
Roger: Great! I'll also ask for some Olympic Highlights, and see what I can do about getting the Toon rights to Star Trek back!
Igre: You go right ahead Roger.
Roger: Thanks! I'll be Riiiiiighhhhhttttt Back!
"Love is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important." (Lisa Hoffman)
Something they can all be proud of
I don't know about that... I was reading the site linked in the article and found this blurb... and other googling revealed many accounts that Ub Iwerks was the real creator of Oswald and Mickey... not Walt. (http://www.vitaphone.org/flip.html)
MGM's first sound cartoon character was Flip The Frog. Flip The Frog was created by Ub Iwerks. Ub Iwerks was the CREATOR of Mickey Mouse and had drawned the early Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony cartoons. (Walt Disney didn't know how to draw and never learned. Take a look at some of the Laugh O Grams that he drew and you'll see how poor his drawing skills were. You can look at the Mickey Mouse poster on the bottom of this page and see what it says: A Walt Disney Comic...Drawn by Ub Iwerks. ) Disney propaganda would have you believe otherwise but the case can be settled by looking at the newspapers, advertisements and magazines of the era. Below you can see a clipping from a 1930 German newspaper hailing the new creation of Ub Iwerks, the creator of Mickey Mouse. Ub Iwerks had actually drawn a frog and his girlfriend in the Silly Symphony cartoons. In one of the last SIlly Symphonies that Ub Iwerks drew the foucs of the film were these two frogs. This cartoon is called Summer. Ub Iwerks with the help of Pat Powers started this new cartoon series after leaving Disney. The first cartoon that Ub Iwerks made for the series was also the first COLOR sound cartoon that was ever made. (Even though Disney would have you believe other wise. Incidentally the first sound cartoon was not the Mickey Mouse cartoon called "Steamboat Willie" but an Aesop's Fable which Disney had seen and copied in 1928 called "DINNER TIME". The first Flip The Frog cartoon had a mouse playing a violin and you can see above. When reading books on so-called animation history some SOB Disney propagandists even refer to the mouse in FIDDLESTICKS as a copy of Walt's Disney Mickey Mouse! Will Disney ever stop taking credit from other people who deserve it?
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
Does this mean that some day in the near future I have a chance to trade some (IP) for Veronica Zemanova? That's considerable motivation: Just thinking about it makes my initiative stat hover some where near the astroid belt.
What to code, what to code! *groan*
Cherrios.
Everything in the Universe sucks: It's the law!
...the trade does leave NBC without a first-string cartoon character, but he went on to state, "We're hopeful we can pick one up in next year's draft."
Chris Mattern
He was UNDER CONTRACT. That's not slavery.
Under what definition of "slavery"?
the trade does leave NBC without a first-string cartoon character
Bull. NBC Universal still has plenty of cartoon characters.
Gee, how is this much different from the USMC owning my ass for the period of the contract I signed with them? Hell, they even were able to take legal action against people who got severly sunburned over a weekend for "damaging government property".
Ironic stance considering college football players don't get paid and can be cut from the team for any reason at all.
That was a joke son, a joke I say.
So you're a Foghorn Leghorn (WB character) fan? In that case, look at what Disney "appropriated" from WB.
prepare to be mashed
I think this can be a very interesting development in tech industry.
Remember the MS guy who jumped ship to google? And they had a huge court fight? How much trade value would he have fatched?
And can you imagine? the next block buster trade between rival companies, Steve Ballmer for ipod/itune? or steve job for office suite?
The possibility is simply endless, and at last, there is something in tech to compete with sports!
Is there any person, event, or technology on this planet that doesn't have a conspiracy theory associated with him/her/it?
That's the inevitable path of American culture: human rights replaced by corporate rights, and humans ourselves replaced by cartoons. We've already filled the Washington DC offices and the media stages, which institutionalize our culture, with two dimensional fictional characters. Tamagochi, though not as popular as in Japan, will surely bloom in online gaming. Eventually you'll get your Disney/Homeland Security mandatory offer to download your replacement.
--
make install -not war
surely the early cartoons are now in the public domain... or can we expect yet another Disney sponsored copyright term extension.
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
In other news, Disney announced the trade of Steve Jobs to Dreamworks SKG in exchange for Shrek and two minor characters to be named later.
Just this year Herman Edwards went from the coach of the Jets to the Cheifs, who then gave the Jets a 4th round draft pick.
That was the worst trade I've seen, though Herman Edwards isn't that great of a coach at all. I'm also glad Terry Bradway isn't the GM anymore.
It's almost like an indentured servant.
(If you don't know what I'm talking about, you don't watch enough cartoons.)
Get over yourself.
They can also walk away anytime they want. They aren't there to play sports, they are there to go to school. The sports thing is supposed to be, you know, extra. Since their primary purpose there is to go to school, playing sports where the money goes back into the school kinda helps everyone involved. How often to college sports players get traded to another school for the profit of the owners?
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
Lol.. gotta love slashdot. A guy who makes the same amount of money in a year that it would take most people 20 years of working to make is somehow a slave.
Shit, you can eat a real bunny. But what can you do with a cartoon?
(Except drive 10,000,000 people into fits of psychotic violent madness and embassy-burning riots. Just depends on the cartoon.)
They really can't walk away at any time, at least for the top division 1 schools as that would jeopardize their chances for their pro careers. It's similar to grad students who work at almost below minimum wage can't really walk away at any time without jeopardizing their PHDs or chances at a professorship later on.
Well that boils down to their motiviations for being there in the first place. Since I have problems with the way professional level sports are handled, I don't have a whole lot of concern for folks who go to college to play instead of getting an education. Kinda the definition of extracurricular activities really. So many of them take classes because they have to so they can stay at the school and continue to play sports for a chance at a pro career. As for the ones who are at college to get an education, who also play sports, they can walk away any time.
The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
So the headline should really have read "Intellectual Property traded for Not-So-Intellectual Property".
ABC traded a living and highly popular sportscaster to NBC for Oswald, a dead presidential assassin who the tinfoil hatters think was just a patsy anyway? They got taken.
How ya like dat?
End of an era. Stop.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
...Disney raided from Termite Terrace to create Chicken Little. There's a fair amount of Tweety Bird in him too. Not the Bob Clampett sadistic Tweety, but the later super-cute, be-feathered Tweety.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Thanks to Taito and NBC/Universal, Oswald seems to be Big in Japan. Perhaps this is just an attempt by Disney to get a piece of the action on this kawaii revival.
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
This has all the hallmarks of a good deal.
- ABC gets things of value to it.
- NBC gets things of value to it.
- Michaels and Madden gets something they want.
- NBC/Universal unloads something that has no value to it -- Oswold -- and gives it to Disney (owner of ABC), who sees value in it, in return for things that NBC values.
Trading contracts like this happens all the time in the professional world, most visably in professional sorts, where it's called a trade.
There's absolutely nothing evil going on here. Which is a change for Disney, I know, but everybody has their moments.
Remove the caps and hold to a mirror.
I think such trades are a great idea.
George Bush would fit in great at Fox. Think we could trade him for Homer Simpson?
If George makes too many mistakes on the air, we can upload his mind into Max Headroom.
Can free agency be far behind for Al Michaels? Once he's eligable his value should really soar.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Slaves have no choice. He WILLINGLY entered into the contract. That's a choice. If he didn't like the terms, he didn't have to sign.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Slaves have no choice. He WILLINGLY entered into the contract.
In a few slave law traditions, the law did not grant ownership of a child of a slave to the parent's master; persons willingly sold themselves into slavery.
Disney employees are called "Cast Members" I think thet left off the "e" "caste" :)
You had me at merlot
The definition that doesn't include people willingly entering into contracts for personal gain (generally financial).
If you want to call this slavery, then you might as well call me a slave - I have a contract (of employment) with my employer which stipulates that should I wish to leave, I have to give them three months notice. Apart from the length of time involved, how is it any different?
It's official. Most of you are morons.
If that happened today Universal would shut Walt down quicker than Mr. Toad's Wild ride.
-EB
Do you ever walk alone like a drifter in the dark?
...I can trade the annoying neighbor lady for one of those hot female rangers from Guild Wars? After all, they are intellectual property.
:)
You may mock me, but c'mon, admit it -- a finer use of polygons simply does not exist. Especially when they're dancing.
...for some peace and quiet. I'm just exhausted with the constant stream of noise and information. Turn the TV off, pack it up, and put it by the curb. Sit and listen to the clock ticking. You'll feel better after.
That's right, Disney stole the patented idea of a toy company here in the States, which was producing and selling a PATENTED wooden mouse toy with articulated joints (IIRC), which had the name "Micky" (without an "e") emblazoned across its chest. This was around the 1920's, IIRC. Disney saw the toy and basically fashioned a cartoon character after it.
Subsequently the producer (and patent-holder) of the Micky toy sued Disney for infringement, but in yet another amazing patent debacle the company LOST the suit and Disney walked away with the ability to continue creating "Mickey" cartoons and calling them his own creation.
Apparently Disney's "invention" of Mickey was neither the first nor the last time he would engage in such plagiarism. Not only could he not draw worth a damn, then, he couldn't invent worth a damn, either. I guess that leaves the term "entrepreneur" to describe Disney?
Mark
Certainly Thomas Moore, as depicted in "A Man for All Seasons", was referring to the verses in the Bible. He was, in amazing good humor, addressing a man who had just lied about him in court and caused him to be sentanced to death, in exchange for being appointed as an official over Wales, also poking fun at Wales in the process. He actually said something like:
"It profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world ...But for Wales?"
I just substituted Oswald for Wales because I thought it was appropriate. The joke, if it was any good at all, is completely lost on people not familiar with the Thomas Moore, because no humor seems inherent intended in the biblical verse as you cite it. It took the situation of Thomas Moore to make good humor of it.