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"Happy Birthday To You" Set To Finally Reach the Public Domain
schnell writes: The New York Times reports that "the world's most popular song" is at last poised to be released into the public domain. From the story: "In September, a federal judge ruled that Warner Music, the song's publisher, did not have a valid copyright claim to 'Happy Birthday,' which has been estimated to collect $2 million a year in royalties. But what that ruling meant for the future of the song — and Warner's liability — was unclear, and a trial had been set to begin next week. In a filing on Tuesday in United States District Court in Los Angeles, the parties in the case said they had agreed to a settlement to end the case. The terms of that deal are confidential. But if the settlement is approved by the court, the song is expected to formally enter the public domain." (We mentioned the case in September, too.)
They made hundreds of millions of dollars off of a single fraudulent copyright claim and will experience no repercussions. These are the people RIAA is fighting for.
These people fund the RIAA (along with the other major labels), so naturally the RIAA fights for them.
trademarks do not expire
Trademarks die once they are no longer distinctive. Exclusive rights under the Lanham Act cannot be used to extend the effective term of an expired U.S. copyright. See Dastar v. Fox .
Outside of the US it "harmonizes" copyright to meet the new US duration. So for lots of the world it does extend copyright.
All it takes is for one country to extend it some more, and then everyone else can ratchet theirs up in the name of consistency.
3. Profit!
Now, the interesting question would be, as a trademark, can Mickey Mouse be used under fair use?
I would think it'd depend on the precise way the cartoon is used. I would expect that if you posted the early MM movies on your website, under a disclaimer saying that these were produced by Disney and are now out of copyright, that you would be ok. However, if you posted them in a way that made users think your website was Disney approved, then you would be in trouble.
This site is really good IMHO, (and also check out the section on fair use of trademarks):
if the mark is being used by another party in such a manner that potential consumers are likely to believe that such use is endorsed by or is otherwise associated with the mark’s owner, then the mark’s owner may have rights to prevent such use and to seek damages and other remedies for the same.
That page makes clear that trademark rights are not as strong as copyright rights, and they are harder to get. You don't get a trademark just by creating a character.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."