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When do copyrights expire?

P

Pandamonium

Golden Member
I've got a still from Hackers of "hacking the Gibson" - it's the VR flight through a city of electronic towers with directory listings on the faces of each tower. I think Hackers came out in '96 or so, but I'm not certain. Anyway, I want to use it on a corporate website, but I'm wondering if any legal issues can come of this.
 
Damn it. What if I doctor it up enough so it's barely recognizable? Or is even using it as a base illegal? If so, what about doctoring up like a corner of it and using that corner somewhere in a collage?
 
copyright laws vary from place to place - but I think the most current is 95 years from publication, for something produced by a company, and 70 years after the last author's death for a work produced by an individual or a private group.

Patents about 15 years - may be more or less in some countries and in some circumstances
 
Just look at it this way - anything produced after the "invention" of Mickey Mouse will never not be covered by copyright, unless either the author explicitly places it into the public domain or a serious shift in copyright law occurs.
 
Copyrights - 75 Years
Not sure about Patents. I think it's 5 years, and people would need to reapply after that I think.
 
Originally posted by: TerryMathews
Just look at it this way - anything produced after the "invention" of Mickey Mouse will never not be covered by copyright, unless either the author explicitly places it into the public domain or a serious shift in copyright law occurs.
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Exactly. Der Mousenfuhrer's goons keep handing Congress sacks of money to extend the copyright term whenever their control of him is in danger of expiring.
 
send an e-mail to the company that produced the movie and ask them (with a copy of the still). most of the time they will O.K. it as long as you aren't trying to re-sale it or make a profit off of it directly.

edit: offer them that you will put a "this image was taken from ...." on the lower right hand corner of the still so they get credit for the picture.
 
I think currently, copyrights expire on the day the grandchild of the youngest person alive when material was produced dies. I'm pretty sure that's it. Thanks Disney :roll:
 
Originally posted by: Dexion
Mickey Mouse wouldn't fall under as a copyright, it's a trademark.
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Any movie in which Mickey Mouse appears is copyrighted to Disney, as is the image of MM. Whoever said that anything produced after that will always be protected is correct. In the US "special interests" keep handing the gov't cash to extend the copyright period so as to keep ownership of these films and any images relating to what is still a very profitable franchise; as suxh these will never make it to the public domain
 
consider copyrights to last indefinitely.

once they're on the verge of expiring again (like the Mikey Mouse copyright was last year), the Hollywood lobby will get congress to further increase the length. the Supreme Court ruled that it's ok (though unwise) to do.
 
Originally posted by: Dexion
Mickey Mouse wouldn't fall under as a copyright, it's a trademark.
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But Der Mousenfuhrer's profitable cartoons are protected by copyright not trademark and some are very old -- Snow White is 67 years old. Hence the need to buy votes to extend corporate copyright terms again and again, 25, 50 and now even 75 years aren't enough for Disney to make money off their works, even though many are based on royalty-free use of others' expired copyrights.
 
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