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Captain Copyright Expires

The Canadian superhero Captain Copyright has finally expired, not due to pirates or to the passage of 50 years after the death of the author, but because "the current climate around copyright issues will not allow a project like this one to be successful." The cartoon was intended to provide an education in copyright law for children, but it became a focus for criticism when even the Canadian Library Association condemned it for lacking balance because it ignored issues like Fair Dealing (Canada's version of Fair Use). Personally, I was hoping we'd see them get sued by DC & Marvel, who claim to own the trademark on the word "superhero", and vanish in a puff of logic.

19 of 114 comments (clear)

  1. So... by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, Captain copyright is dead.

    Is it 85 years after death that his copyright expires and we can create our own free version of him?

    Only 84 years 11 months and 3 weeks to go...

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  2. mod -1 Pedantic by tverbeek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Personally, I was hoping we'd see them get sued by DC & Marvel, who claim to own the trademark on the word "superhero", and vanish in a puff of logic.
    Given the facts that A) copyrights and trademarks rights are different things, and B) the word "superhero" doesn't appear anywhere in the name "Captain Copyright", I don't think there'd be much chance of that.
    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  3. It coulda been really deviant by CrazyJim1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    It said they were training kids at grade 1. LOL. What are they going to brain wash them with? "Remember kids, even your parents can't be trusted. If you suspect your mom or dad to be illegally using music or software, call 911 and report them."

    1. Re:It coulda been really deviant by purpledinoz · · Score: 4, Funny

      Anyone ever see that children's educational music video, "Don't Copy That Floppy", where this rapper does this whole rap about software piracy? That video is hilarious. It's on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afuc8TmU2Rg.

    2. Re:It coulda been really deviant by binarybum · · Score: 4, Funny

      holy crap - there's more FUD in that video than a whole generation of parents warning about hairy palms.

              I wonder if to this day those programmers are dropping casual references to their appearance in a "rap video" in attempt to get laid. I probably would.

      --
      ôó
    3. Re:It coulda been really deviant by Firehed · · Score: 3, Funny

      Holy crap... I'd take the world's hairiest palms in order to not have to sit through that whole video. By three minutes in, I was almost ready to pour my scalding beverage all over myself to make it end (thankfully, I remembered that back button).

      Although come to think of it, if all that it takes to absolve myself of any potential guilt about software piracy is mastu... 3) Profit!

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    4. Re:It coulda been really deviant by dwandy · · Score: 3, Funny

      so ... when the kid says "hey, who are you and what are you doing on my computer?" , was I the only one who thought, Sony? is that you?

      --
      If you think imaginary property and real property are the same, when does your house become public domain?
  4. *Gasp* by HerrEkberg · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who will now protect us from the evil Dr. Copyleft?!

  5. His wife... by markbt73 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...Tenille Copyright, is said to be inconsolable. And they thought love would keep them together. The fools.

    --
    "Oh boy! Are we going to try something dangerous?"
  6. Captain Copyright Farewell Message by Apple+Acolyte · · Score: 5, Informative
    http://www.captaincopyright.ca/

    In August 2006, we took the Captain Copyright website offline so that we could revise its content in response to the criticisms the site had received. We worked extensively on revising the original lessons and we commissioned someone with expertise on the creation of educational materials to prepare new lessons on the Creative Commons, fair dealing and the public domain. We also sought the assistance of an advisory panel of educators and copyright experts with a range of perspectives on copyright, and every lesson was submitted to them for rigorous review. We then incorporated their revisions to the lessons so that they could be thoroughly teacher-tested.

    Despite the significant progress we made on addressing the concerns raised about the original Captain Copyright initiative, as well as the positive feedback and requests for literally hundreds of lesson kits from teachers and librarians, we have come to the conclusion that the current climate around copyright issues will not allow a project like this one to be successful. It is difficult for organizations to reach agreement on copyright issues at this time and we know that, in the face of continuing opposition, the materials will not be used in the classroom. Under these circumstances there is no point in our continuing to work on this project.

    We began this project because teachers told us that copyright had become too much a part of their students' daily lives for it not to be taught in the classroom, and they told us they needed a teaching tool to help them do it. We still believe that creating such a tool is important, but we also now believe that no single organization can take the lead on such an initiative. We truly hope that there will come a time when the copyright community - including educators, librarians and copyright collectives - can work together to provide a unbiased teaching tool that provides teachers and students with a balanced view of copyright.
    --
    Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
    1. Re:Captain Copyright Farewell Message by Adambomb · · Score: 3, Interesting

      as well as the positive feedback and requests for literally hundreds of lesson kits from teachers and librarians See, now I know we canadians are small in terms of demographics, but I do not see how one could be so pleased about "literally hundreds" of lesson kits. How many primary and secondary educational instutitions do we have in canada again?

      --
      Ice Cream has no bones.
    2. Re:Captain Copyright Farewell Message by Stormwatch · · Score: 4, Insightful

      They're talking about the very few retards who swallowed their bullshit. Smart people read this instead.

  7. Re:I wonder... by shawb · · Score: 3, Insightful
    --
    I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
  8. FYI on superhero trademark by edwardpickman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A friend was curious and checked it out. Marvel never trademarked the term "superhero". That was ten years ago so it might have changed since. Each of their characters are trademarked but not the term in any fashion. It's debateable if the term can be in of itself be trademarked at this point. He was trademarking some things at the time and I know he was tempted to establish a "Superhero" trademark but it would mostly be a logo trademark.

    1. Re:FYI on superhero trademark by tverbeek · · Score: 3, Informative

      DC and Marvel filed a joint trademark registration (#73222079) on "super heroes" back in 1979, when a toy manufacturer produced a line of licensed action figures featuring both of their characters. DC has a registration for "Legion of Super Heroes" (their long-running team series), and Marvel has registered "Marvel Super Heroes". One or the other publisher periodically issues a cease-and-desist to people who they feel are infringing on one of these trademarks, and this is why (for example) Malibu Comics instead called their specially-powered characters "ultras".

      As far as I know, the trademark has never been challenged/defended in court. If it were, it's hard to say whether it's become generic enough to go public-domain like "refrigerator" and "aspirin", or if it'd cling to proprietarity like "Xerox"® and "Band-Aid"®. But it is on the books.

      --
      http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  9. His wikipedia page is a good read by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Copyright

    It details all of his various "adventures", including stealing (that is what they want us to call it isn't it?) content from wikipedia and breaking the licensing terms by not providing a source. Also the pesky little scamp attempted to tell us that we were "not permitted to copy or cut from any page or its HTML source code to the Windows [TM] clipboard (or equivalent on other platforms) onto any other website." - what a wonderful place the web would be if we all followed the rules of the captain.

    May he rest in hypocritical peace - or is that phrase copyright someone?

  10. Netcraft now confirms: Captain Copyright is dying by Spazntwich · · Score: 4, Funny

    It is official; Netcraft now confirms: Captain Copyright is dying


    One more crippling bombshell hit the already beleaguered Captain Copyright community when IDC confirmed that Captain Copyright market share has dropped yet again, now down to less than a fraction of 1 percent of all servers. Coming close on the heels of a recent Netcraft survey which plainly states that Captain Copyright has lost more market share, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. Captain Copyright is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by failing dead last in the recent Sys Admin comprehensive networking test.


    You don't need to be a Kreskin to predict Captain Copyright's future. The hand writing is on the wall: Captain Copyright faces a bleak future. In fact there won't be any future at all for Captain Copyright because he is dying. Things are looking very bad for Captain Copyright. As many of us are already aware, Captain Copyright continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood.

  11. Re:Not a SUPER-hero anyway by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mild-mannered Mark Trade was your average corporate shill from Krypton born with a mutant x-factor until one day he was bit by a radioactive spider that had touched some mutagen ooze which had been exposed to gamma rays while in outerspace.

    His superpowers are irony, the ability to set off kids' bullshit detectors without even having to say anything, and the ability to incapacitate pirates by forcing them to laugh uncontrollably.

  12. May the same fate await by Scareduck · · Score: 3, Funny

    his brother, Professor Patent.

    --

    Dog is my co-pilot.