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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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
Does anyone even READ these stories? He and John Madden have been a broadcast team for a while. They apparently like working together and they like the product they bring to the table Madden's contract expired and he signed a new contract with a competing broadcaster (Sunday Night Football moves from ESPN to NBC next year and Monday Night Football goes from ABC to ESPN). Madden signed to do Sunday Night Football for NBC. Michels asked to be released from his ABC/ESPN contract to go to NBC to continue broadcasting with Madden. Michels is a good football announcer. A valuable property to ABC/ESPN (what's why they have him under contract... that's the whole POINT of signing contracts). Michels wanted out. ABC negotiates with NBC to have him released from his ABC contract. ABC gets stuff (including the rights to the cartoon), NBC gets Michels.
And? No pissing off. Nothing strange going on. Just a change in situation and a mis-alignment of contract dates between two people who apparently consider themselves a broadcast "team".
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
Well, first think is Eisner is out at Disney. Robert Iger is now the CEO (for about the last year I think).
I don't really understand the problem here. A bit strange thats for sure, but I'm not seeing anything to get worked up about. Michaels was under contract with ABC/ESPN/Disney but decided he wanted to go to work with his friends who moved to NBC. NBC wanted him. "They could have just as easily asked them for nothing". Sure I guess they could, but why would they? I guess if Kobe Bryant decided he wanted to play in New York, the Lakers COULD just let him go for nothing but why on Earth would they? You are giving up something of value, so you come to an aggrement on what you feel would be of equal value. Now they could have just been hard-asses and told Michaels to screw off he's staying put. However, I thought they were really cool about this and came to a very friendly settlement. Disney has been trying to get back the rights to Oswald for some time, its actually a pretty major piece fo the Disney lagecy which Iger has said he wants to bring back. So you can argue it has little monetary value, but it clearly does have value to Disney. Like Luke's light saber would have value to Lucus. One of the first things they created and started them on the road to thier empires. Olypmic highlights and rights to televise some golf must have some value (I have NO idea how much), but generally Disney (of whom I not normally a huge fan) gave Michaels and NBC what they wanted in what seems a very friendly exchange where both sides got what they wanted.
Why is that so bad?
"reality has a well-known liberal bias" - Steven Colbert
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.
"I wish I could quit you..."
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
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.
...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
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.
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
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.)
...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.