Source, albeit via huffpost so eh.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/josh-hawley-jumps-anti-disney-205543262.html
Bill for those that want to read it
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4178/text?q={"search":["copyright","copyright"]}&r=1&s=1
"S.4178 - Copyright Clause Restoration Act of 2022"
As far as posting here I am a bit late to the party but might as well go it and it is has not been rejected yet.
It is in some ways being framed under the general anti Disney sentiment that is happening right now (you might have seen them lose their special status in Florida a few weeks back) and it is probably more of a feel good protest thing than something likely to land in law but I will try to note copyright reform attempts where I see them as they are so few and far between, and most times we see copyright discussed it is either in DMCA exceptions lists or the US pressuring other countries to get in line with them (could make for some interesting futures there too).
Anyway around here for a while now I have done the public domain day threads each year
https://gbatemp.net/threads/new-in-the-public-domain-for-2022.605453/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/new-in-the-public-domain-for-2021.580143/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/so-a-bu...ew-days-ago-2019-copyright-expiration.528124/ (not sure where I was in 2020)
For those unfamiliar then copyright is historically supposed to have had a limit but the last two times Mickey Mouse got close to being out of copyright (see Steamboat Willie) then Disney went all lobbying mad and got it extended. The clock did restart the other year (see the 2019 thread) with said Steamboat Willie due to go in 2024 but we have been getting some nice stuff in the meantime (those threads have more and links to more still). Disney and others have been probed on their intentions to attempt to get another extension but general word seems to be that they are not going for it in previous years, though how much that word is worth is very much up for debate (especially with huge back catalogues able to be leveraged on streaming if that is the future).
My usual primer on such things is
Anyway it is not a general law and instead only applies to things where the company "(i) has a market capitalization of more than $150,000,000,000 and (ii) (I) is classified under North American Industry Classification System code 5121 or 71; or (II) engages in substantial activities for which a code described in subclause (I) could be assigned.
https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=71 https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=5121 5121 is Motion Picture and Video Industries and 71 - Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation which does not necessarily include software.
That is also 150 billion for a market cap which is only a handful -- Fox (though not sure what they have right now after the Disney thing the other year) for instance is sitting now at 17.14 billion, Warner Bros is 42.12, Universal Pictures is Comcast which would just about squeak over at 179.20 billion at time of writing but I don't know if they would subdivide down (I presume that is what II aims for), Paramount is 18.493). To that end the shots fired against Disney ($187.86 billion) narrative is pretty solid, and indeed the article linked at the start notes it as a likely workaround to individual targets (which is legally dubious). Maybe all this inflation will do some good after all though and some other things get into that range.
Dropping it to 56 years would be quite the step up, unlikely to do much for computer games (Pong is 1972 where 2022-56 is 1966, though first is an interesting question even if you don't count mechanical games) in the immediate term as they probably don't count under those codes (also EA only has a market cap of 36.56 billion, Epic 28.9, Ubisoft 6.17) or the II part but the board game fans among us (Monopoly is 1935, Risk is 1957, Stratego is 1946, Cluedo/Clue is 1940s, Barrel of Monkeys is 1965, Scrabble is 1938...) might see something depending upon what goes (though Mattel is 8.19 billion market cap).
As far as Disney themselves then that would be a fair few films (Jungle Book is 1967 though so you would have to wait a little bit), do also note Disney owns various labels and historically did as well and has acquired many companies over the years so the simple naive wiki list might not be the whole story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Pictures_films
Still selection of the more noted classic works Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937, Pinnocchio is 1940, Fantasia 1940, Dumbo 1941, Bambi 1942 (though I will note the original German language book went public domain this year in the US, and has been for several more in the EU), Song of the South 1946, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 1949 (animated versions of The Wind in the Willows and The story of Sleepy Hollow, though both are based on older books still), Cinderella 1950, Treasure Island 1950, Alice in Wonderland 1951, Robin Hood 1952 (though this is the live action version, 1973 was the animated one), Peter Pan 1953, Lady and the Tramp 1955, Old Yeller 1957, Sleeping Beauty 1959, Swiss Family Robinson 1960, 101 Dalmatians 1961, The Parent Trap 1961, The Incredible Journey 1963, The Sword in the Stone 1963, Marry Poppins 1964, That Darn Cat! 1965, Jungle Book 1967 as noted earlier but the book was 1894 hence various other versions over the years, 1968 for The Love Bug (first outing of Herbie), 1970 Aristocats, 1971 Bedknobs and Broomsticks and then we are in the dark times for classic Disney as The Rescuers would be 1977 before we get something that is not a sequel to previous things on this list. Would also note another public domain entry this year of Winnie the Pooh ( https://explosm.net/comics/winnie ) saw some Disney efforts in 1966 in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Accordingly shoving all that into the public domain over the next few years would be huge. Not sure what would go as far as aspects of it (this public domain day also saw the restarting of music recordings copyright lapsing but on a different year).
https://www.yahoo.com/news/josh-hawley-jumps-anti-disney-205543262.html
Bill for those that want to read it
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/4178/text?q={"search":["copyright","copyright"]}&r=1&s=1
"S.4178 - Copyright Clause Restoration Act of 2022"
As far as posting here I am a bit late to the party but might as well go it and it is has not been rejected yet.
It is in some ways being framed under the general anti Disney sentiment that is happening right now (you might have seen them lose their special status in Florida a few weeks back) and it is probably more of a feel good protest thing than something likely to land in law but I will try to note copyright reform attempts where I see them as they are so few and far between, and most times we see copyright discussed it is either in DMCA exceptions lists or the US pressuring other countries to get in line with them (could make for some interesting futures there too).
Anyway around here for a while now I have done the public domain day threads each year
https://gbatemp.net/threads/new-in-the-public-domain-for-2022.605453/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/new-in-the-public-domain-for-2021.580143/
https://gbatemp.net/threads/so-a-bu...ew-days-ago-2019-copyright-expiration.528124/ (not sure where I was in 2020)
For those unfamiliar then copyright is historically supposed to have had a limit but the last two times Mickey Mouse got close to being out of copyright (see Steamboat Willie) then Disney went all lobbying mad and got it extended. The clock did restart the other year (see the 2019 thread) with said Steamboat Willie due to go in 2024 but we have been getting some nice stuff in the meantime (those threads have more and links to more still). Disney and others have been probed on their intentions to attempt to get another extension but general word seems to be that they are not going for it in previous years, though how much that word is worth is very much up for debate (especially with huge back catalogues able to be leveraged on streaming if that is the future).
My usual primer on such things is
Anyway it is not a general law and instead only applies to things where the company "(i) has a market capitalization of more than $150,000,000,000 and (ii) (I) is classified under North American Industry Classification System code 5121 or 71; or (II) engages in substantial activities for which a code described in subclause (I) could be assigned.
https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=71 https://www.naics.com/naics-code-description/?code=5121 5121 is Motion Picture and Video Industries and 71 - Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation which does not necessarily include software.
That is also 150 billion for a market cap which is only a handful -- Fox (though not sure what they have right now after the Disney thing the other year) for instance is sitting now at 17.14 billion, Warner Bros is 42.12, Universal Pictures is Comcast which would just about squeak over at 179.20 billion at time of writing but I don't know if they would subdivide down (I presume that is what II aims for), Paramount is 18.493). To that end the shots fired against Disney ($187.86 billion) narrative is pretty solid, and indeed the article linked at the start notes it as a likely workaround to individual targets (which is legally dubious). Maybe all this inflation will do some good after all though and some other things get into that range.
Dropping it to 56 years would be quite the step up, unlikely to do much for computer games (Pong is 1972 where 2022-56 is 1966, though first is an interesting question even if you don't count mechanical games) in the immediate term as they probably don't count under those codes (also EA only has a market cap of 36.56 billion, Epic 28.9, Ubisoft 6.17) or the II part but the board game fans among us (Monopoly is 1935, Risk is 1957, Stratego is 1946, Cluedo/Clue is 1940s, Barrel of Monkeys is 1965, Scrabble is 1938...) might see something depending upon what goes (though Mattel is 8.19 billion market cap).
As far as Disney themselves then that would be a fair few films (Jungle Book is 1967 though so you would have to wait a little bit), do also note Disney owns various labels and historically did as well and has acquired many companies over the years so the simple naive wiki list might not be the whole story.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Pictures_films
Still selection of the more noted classic works Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937, Pinnocchio is 1940, Fantasia 1940, Dumbo 1941, Bambi 1942 (though I will note the original German language book went public domain this year in the US, and has been for several more in the EU), Song of the South 1946, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad 1949 (animated versions of The Wind in the Willows and The story of Sleepy Hollow, though both are based on older books still), Cinderella 1950, Treasure Island 1950, Alice in Wonderland 1951, Robin Hood 1952 (though this is the live action version, 1973 was the animated one), Peter Pan 1953, Lady and the Tramp 1955, Old Yeller 1957, Sleeping Beauty 1959, Swiss Family Robinson 1960, 101 Dalmatians 1961, The Parent Trap 1961, The Incredible Journey 1963, The Sword in the Stone 1963, Marry Poppins 1964, That Darn Cat! 1965, Jungle Book 1967 as noted earlier but the book was 1894 hence various other versions over the years, 1968 for The Love Bug (first outing of Herbie), 1970 Aristocats, 1971 Bedknobs and Broomsticks and then we are in the dark times for classic Disney as The Rescuers would be 1977 before we get something that is not a sequel to previous things on this list. Would also note another public domain entry this year of Winnie the Pooh ( https://explosm.net/comics/winnie ) saw some Disney efforts in 1966 in Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Accordingly shoving all that into the public domain over the next few years would be huge. Not sure what would go as far as aspects of it (this public domain day also saw the restarting of music recordings copyright lapsing but on a different year).
