Such a long copyright protection period seems insane to me. The added economic incentive for creating stuff today, given the current length of copyright and the risk that the law will change between then and now... it rounds to 0.
Copyright term has nothing to do with incentive for creativity. It isn't about new works. Copyright gets extended so that past works don't fall out of copyright. Google the "mickey mouse copyright extension" graph. The last thing Disney will ever accept is allowing any version of Mickey to become public domain. Next on the list are things like the early Elvis/Beatles recordings. Copyright is extended not to protect future works in the hands of creators, but to allow past works to be monetized by the descendants of those creators.
Since then, the Disney corporation has been working hard to ensure that Mickey’s likeness is a trademark in actual widespread use across many varied product categories. Even if another copyright extension isn’t granted, they’ll still be in a good position to go on the attack against other companies that try to use Mickey for commercial gain.
If that happens, it’ll be interesting to watch; where will the courts draw the line between legitimately using the public-domain films and confusing consumers by using Disney’s trademark which is embedded in that film?
The Steamboat Willie shorts will go public domain on January 1, 2024 under current law--if they are not already in public domain due to Disney failing to observe all the proper copyright steps (this is alleged, but has never been argued, successfully or otherwise, in a court). If Disney desires to extend copyright to keep Mickey Mouse from slipping to the pubic domain, they are rapidly running out of time to do so.
I strongly suspect that next decade will see Mickey Mouse fall into the public domain.
One oddity regarding characters is that the only thing that becomes public domain is the character as portrayed in that public domain material. In the case of Mickey, that means only his appearance in Steamboat Willie would become public domain in 2024, with more material being released to the public domain each year. What that entails is... sort of confusing, I think, and will come down to individual cases. Depending on how it is used, a post-2024 portrayal of Mickey might be a copyright violation or might not be.
Additionally, Mickey is also trademarked, which lasts forever as long as it is used commercially by the owner. So the mouse's likeness is not likely to be public domain as long as the Disney company exists and continues to use it.
I think it's authors who want to give the rights to their children as inheritance. It can't be inheritance if it's not a government protected asset.
As an author, I think copyright should expire upon the death of the author(s). But then, I'm also generally opposed to large inheritances, I think they only serve aristocracy.
