Saturday, September 28, 2013

Mickey Mouse stars in Escape From Tomorrow - but Disney is not pleased...

Mickey - as you have never seen him before.
Escape From Tomorrow is a micro budget indie horror flick filmed without permission, using hand held cameras and mobile phones, inside the Disney parks. It stars Mickey in his first ever blood soaked horror role. The real horror, you might think, will be the litigation that will surely result as armies of Disney lawyers descend on the film-makers. But you would be wrong.

Disney has decided not to sue. At least, not yet. Which is surprising, given that the importance of copyright protection over Mickey was recognised by no less august a body than the US Congress, which in 1998 greatly extended existing copyright laws so that the Mouse would not fall (Oh,  horror!) into the public domain. So if you've ever wondered why copyright protection never seems to die, you can thank the 1998 legislation known to its admirers as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.

To make up your own mind on whether or not Disney should sue (it's far from too late for them to change their mind), check out the trailer below.



And be sure to share your thoughts with the legal team at Buena Vista.

----Alex

2 comments:

  1. Actually, Mickey is a trademark for the company, so he will never fall into public domain. All of the major characters are trademarked.

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  2. maybe they're just too disorganized to sue!

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