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Lawsuit Claims Buck Rogers Is In the Public Domain

Posted by timothy on from the popular-imagination dept.

An anonymous reader writes: As reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a court will decide whether Buck Rogers is in the public domain. The Buck Rogers comic strip first appeared in 1929. Team Angry Filmmakers claim that Buck Rogers entered the public domain in the mid-1950s, and they want to make a Buck Rogers movie called Armageddon 2419 A.D. They filed a federal suit this year in Los Angeles against the trust claiming ownership of the name, and the trial has been moved to Pittsburgh.

4 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. Isn't the current mouse protection rule ... by dbIII · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Doesn't the current mouse protection rule set the clock to death of creator plus 70 years for copyright?
    Shouldn't that be not only enough for anyone but utterly overboard?

    1. Re:Isn't the current mouse protection rule ... by ad454 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Doesn't the current mouse protection rule set the clock to death of creator plus 70 years for copyright?
      Shouldn't that be not only enough for anyone but utterly overboard?

      This is my understanding as well. And "Philip Francis Nowlan" who is the creator of Buck Rogers died in 1940, which was more than 75 years ago.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

      So with the current rules, Buck Rogers should be fully in the USA public domain.

      Unfortunately, we will have to wait until 2036 for Mickey Mouse to enter public domain, and by then I suspect that Disney will bribe enough government officials to prevent it.

    2. Re:Isn't the current mouse protection rule ... by alvinrod · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The issues are a little muddier to me when it comes to using a character. I'd have no issue at all with someone taking an old Buck Rogers story and adapting it for film at this point, but using someone else's character to create new works is a little different, even more so if the owner of that character is still actively using them in the creation of new works.

      Perhaps the best way to illustrate it is to use Mickey Mouse. I think Steamboat Willie or the other early cartoons should be in the public domain and freely accessible, but I don't think that entitles anyone to make a Mickey Mouse cartoon as Disney is still actively using the character and creating new works with the character.

      Personally I think works should enter the public domain after ~25 years. However, let the copyright for a character exist for as long as works involving that character are being produced by the owner. The extreme example of why I feel that way is no one would probably like it if a character they were developing was stolen by someone else and used to spread a message the original author disagreed with, such as Mickey Mouse being used to promote white supremacist propaganda, an oil company using Captain Planet to tell kids that fracking is great, or some other example along those lines.

      It's not an ideal situation as it does run into an issue of perpetual copyright assuming some owner wants to pump out some amount of crap to maintain that it's still being used. Perhaps a set term with paid extensions to ensure that people only maintain those copyrights if they actually intend on using the character or generating some profit from it with the rate increasing for each extension.

  2. Article summary by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · · Score: 5, Interesting

    1) Hollywood producers want to make new Buck Rogers movie based on his very first book appearance. Announce it at Comic Con.
    2) Trust that says it owns the character threatens to sue producers.
    3) Producers try to reach deal. Trust apparently refuses to reach a deal. They simply don't want the film made.
    4) Producers are now going to try an argument that Buck Rogers is actually already in the public domain, so screw the trust as they don't need their permission anyway.