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Originally Posted by shalym
...and even if Mickey had fallen into the public domain, they could *still* be selling those ears and shirts etc. All of the various Disney properties would still exist, and people would still be flocking to them every single day of the year.
Allowing IP to fall into the public domain doesn't mean that the original creator can't keep making money off of it, it just means that they no longer have an *exclusive* right to it.
Shari
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Yep. Remember, the US didn't honor external copyrights until the 1970's. Ace books famously put out an unauthorized version of LOTR. That didn't mean that Tolkien couldn't license the book in the US and continue to make money off his work. He just couldn't use the power of the government to keep others from doing so. What caused Ace to pull that edition was moral disapproval, not the threat to take them to court. If the US reverted back to a 28 year + 28 year renewal tomorrow, it would have very little to no effect on the vast majority of authors.
It's a very rare book that is still making money some 56 years later. Does anyone think that J.K. Rowlings would suddenly become broke if the Harry Potter franchise went into public domain in 2063? Given that she would be 98 at that point, we would be talking about her children and grandchildren. They, of course, would have the millions that she's already earned. Really, in that case, estate taxes are more of a threat to their wealth than Harry Potter going into public domain.