背景知识

美国迪士尼公司的标志性动画形象米老鼠的版权保护期即将到期。迪士尼公司可能将在不久后失去这一长达95年的形象的专有权。

美国迪士尼公司的创始人华特·迪士尼于1928年创造了“米老鼠”这个动画形象,并在同年的《汽船威利》电影中首次亮相。长久以来,米老鼠已成为迪士尼公司的象征。它每年可以为迪士尼公司带来几十亿美元的收入。

好莱坞电影知识产权(每日外刊0105-版权到期)(1)

正文阅读

A treasure trove of Hollywood intellectual property is heading for the public domain

版权到期:好莱坞知识产权的宝库正走向公共领域

Trouble is afoot in the Hundred Acre Wood. Christopher Robin, now grown up, returns to his childhood stomping ground to find Eeyore dead, Piglet grown into a snorting wild hog and Pooh wielding a sledgehammer. The feral animals murder anyone in their path—mostly young women, some in bikinis.

在百亩森林里,麻烦正在酝酿之中。克里斯托弗·罗宾,现在长大了,回到他童年的常去之地,发现屹耳死了,小猪长成了一头会哼哼唧唧的野猪,小熊维尼挥舞着大锤。这些野生动物会杀死所有经过的人——大多数是年轻女性,有些还穿着比基尼。

A.A. Milne, who created Pooh in 1926, might not have approved of “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey”, a low-budget slasher film due out in February. But no approval from his estate was needed. In January 2022 the copyright on “Winnie-the-Pooh” expired in America and the work entered the public domain. Since then the bear has also featured in a mobile-phone advertisement as “Winnie-the-Screwed”, complaining to Rabbit that his mobile bill is too high.

在1926年创造了小熊维尼的A.A.米尔恩可能不会认可《小熊维尼:血与蜜》这部将于2月上映的低成本暴力电影。但这并不需要他的遗产管理部门的批准。2022年1月,《小熊维尼》在美国的版权到期,该作品版权进入了公共领域。从那以后,这只熊还以“挨宰的维尼”的形象出现在手机广告中,向兔子抱怨他的话费太高。

Every year a new haul of creative work leaves copyright and becomes free for anyone to adapt and exploit. In America, where copyright for older works is usually 95 years, recent entries to the public domain include Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. But a new era in copyright is now dawning. As the limit begins to expire for works created in the late 1920s, the public domain is starting to receive not only works of literature, art or music, but video, too. Hollywood’s intellectual property, some of it still wildly valuable, is increasingly up for grabs.

每年都有一批新的创意作品脱离版权保护,任何人都可以自由改编和利用。在美国,旧作品的版权通常为95年,最近进入公共领域的作品包括欧内斯特·海明威的《太阳照常升起》和弗朗西斯·菲茨杰拉德的《了不起的盖茨比》。但是版权的新时代正在到来。随着20世纪20年代后期创作作品的版权限制开始到期,公共领域不仅开始出现文学、艺术或音乐作品,还有视频作品。好莱坞的知识产权,其中一些仍然非常有价值,越来越多的人开始争夺。

今日单词

素材来源

文本选自:The Economist(经济学人)

作者:Unknown

原文发布时间:2nd Jan. 2023

每日美句

A contented mind is the greatest blessing a man can enjoy in this world.

知足是人生在世最大的幸事。

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