Copyright and Trademark

Shaun Craill scraill at methven.net
Wed Aug 27 05:35:09 CEST 2003


Hi everyone,

It's been pointed out recently that copyright has expired on early Disney
work and that theoretically that means that they're free to use.  I'm no
expert on this, but my understanding is that in addition to the copyright
protection, all of the different cartoon characters owned by Disney have
been trademarked, which is something that does not expire as long as Disney
uses those trademarks (characters) occasionally and they are still
recognised and identifiable within their respective trademark category.

Interestingly, Disney does not add a date tag to any claim of copyright like
you see in most books.  Instead you will only see the copyright symbol and
next to it the word DISNEY.  I guess this puts the onus of proof of expiry
of copyright on the 'infringer', a smart move.

regards
Shaun Craill

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