WEBVTT - Why Can’t You Copyright a Chicken Sandwich? 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:04.800 I guess what will what's that? So this week I 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:08.639 started looking up Harry Potter knockoffs and they are so terrible. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.479 I love them so much. So there's this one book 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:16.159 in Spanish called Harry perez Uh and he's got his 0:00:16.200 --> 0:00:20.840 friends Ron and Harmonia and they take on this evil 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:24.320 character named Condomort. I love how they change everyone's name 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:28.440 except Ron's, like there's no alternative name for Ron. There's 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:30.560 also one from Russia where he's kind of more a 0:00:30.680 --> 0:00:33.159 rock star and he rides a double bass instead of 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.720 a broom. But my favorite one is from China where 0:00:36.760 --> 0:00:41.720 Harry has to chase down Baltimore's protege Dmort, who apparently 0:00:41.800 --> 0:00:44.360 used to work for the circus under the name Naughty Bubble. 0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:47.560 And there's also kind of into this check this out 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.040 for some reason. There's also a character named Big Spinach 0:00:50.080 --> 0:00:52.640 in it, but none of it makes any sense. And 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:55.000 can you imagine, like how bummed you'd be if you 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.040 ask for a Harry Potter book from your parents and 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.520 instead they brought you one of these knock on I'm 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:02.840 kind of these, but you know, seeing all these crazy titles, 0:01:02.840 --> 0:01:06.280 maybe wonder how does copyright work? Like why can you 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.160 remix of Sherlock Home Story, but not use Felix the 0:01:09.200 --> 0:01:12.080 Cat to advertise your work, Like, why are people so 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.640 excited about two thou nineteens public domain day? We're gonna 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:40.000 get into all of this. Let's dig in either podcast listeners, 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:42.160 Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:44.040 always I'm joined by my good friend Man Guesh how 0:01:44.080 --> 0:01:46.360 Ticketer and on the other side of the soundproof class 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:49.440 celebrating the demise of copyright by eating or those those 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:52.920 Charleston June they are and dancing the Charleston that's our 0:01:52.960 --> 0:01:56.040 friend and producer Tristan McNeil. All right, so just explain 0:01:56.080 --> 0:01:57.760 a little bit. I have to point out that part 0:01:57.760 --> 0:01:59.880 of the reason Tristan is doing this is because he's 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:02.680 laring the Charleston song. It took me a minute to 0:02:02.800 --> 0:02:05.440 uh figure this out. You could probably hear this in 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.440 the background now. The song itself was written to accompany 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:11.160 the dance back when it debuted back in nineteen three, 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:15.760 and it kicked off this national craze. What's notable about 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:18.760 this is that two thousand nineteen actually marks the end 0:02:18.919 --> 0:02:22.200 of the Charleston's Songs copyright protection. I don't know if 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.320 you knew this, if you've been following this, but that 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:26.840 is the case. So now anyone can make a new 0:02:26.880 --> 0:02:29.639 recording of the song or play a nineteen twenty three 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:32.799 performance of it on a podcast, all without having to 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:35.560 pay a dime or worry about getting sued, at least 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:38.680 I hope that, which is obviously great news for any 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:41.519 listeners who are into the Charleston or at least as 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:44.519 into it as Tristan is. Apparently I guess so. But 0:02:44.639 --> 0:02:46.400 you know, it turns out there's a lot of reasons 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:48.799 the party like it's nineteen twenty three this month, even 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.480 if you're not a Charleston fan, and that's because the 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:53.920 slew of works from this year have just entered the 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:56.840 public domain for the very first time, I believe it 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:59.680 or not. This is actually the first mass influx of 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:03.160 public domain material in the US in twenty years, I think. 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.200 So we'll get exactly why this is and how it 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.120 involves Mickey Mouse a little bit later, but the main 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:12.960 takeaway is that thousands of classic books and movies and 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:15.800 songs and other works of art they are now free 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:20.520 to use, remix, sell all without any legal restriction around them, 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:23.040 which is why we're marking the occasion with an episode 0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.120 all about the ins and outs of copyright. So we'll 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.079 talk a little bit about the history of copyright law, 0:03:27.160 --> 0:03:29.880 including why the terms have been extended in the US, 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:32.840 and also what makes this year so different from others. 0:03:32.840 --> 0:03:34.720 Plus we'll take a closer look at the public domain 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.480 class of two nineteen to see exactly what sort of 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.400 hidden treasures just fell into our laps. But you know, well, 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:42.720 where do you want to start off here? Alright? Well, 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:44.640 I thought we should give our listeners a little bit 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:47.920 of context to all of this. So for starters, January 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.680 one is recognized all around the world is Public Domain Day, 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:53.920 and actually didn't know that until we were doing our 0:03:53.920 --> 0:03:56.320 research for this episode. But the way that it works 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:58.560 is that at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.600 older works automatically enter the public domain as they age 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:05.640 out of their copyright terms. But this is where things 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:08.360 get a little bit tricky. So different countries have their 0:04:08.360 --> 0:04:11.800 own rules for how long a work can remain under copyright, 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.320 So most countries will provide copyright protection for the life 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.720 of their author, plus a certain set number of years 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:22.360 beyond that, like the author's life plus fifty or seventy 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:25.120 or whatever it may be. But in the US things 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:29.000 have traditionally worked a little bit differently. So here copyrights 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:32.240 made prior to night have nothing to do with the 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:36.320 lifespan of the works author. Instead, these copyright materials are 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:40.520 protected for a flat ninety five years after their first publication. 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:42.440 It always makes you wonder, like where they come up 0:04:42.480 --> 0:04:46.080 with the number. But so, just as an example, the 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.559 Grapes of Wrath won't enter the U S public domain 0:04:48.640 --> 0:04:52.560 until January of two thousand thirty five, because that will 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:56.120 be ninety five years after it was first published. Now, 0:04:56.120 --> 0:04:58.599 on the other hand, readers in places like Canada and 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:01.920 New Zealand can ead and rework the text for free 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.279 starting this year, and that's because two thousand nineteen is 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.920 fifty years after the death of the book's author, John Steinbeck. 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:11.239 Isn't that weird? Like something about that like feels so 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:14.560 off to me. I mean, it's this like quintessential American 0:05:14.600 --> 0:05:16.800 novel and people in other countries actually get to do 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:19.320 whatever they want with it first, I know, three decades 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:22.360 before Americans get to It's super weird that it actually 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:24.279 reminds you. I was reading about the rights to the 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:26.479 song this Land Is Your Land, which, of course you 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:28.240 know what he got through wrote the lyrics too, and 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:31.240 that's a piece of music that just feels inseparable from 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:33.840 the American identity, and it's kind of become this great 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.599 American almost like an anthem. Ever since it was published 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.760 back in but again for Canada and other countries with 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:44.000 copyright terms of life plus fifty years, that song ended 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.719 in the public domain last year, whereas in the US 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.240 you'll actually have to wait till one to be able 0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:51.880 to use it. And that's when you're planning to put 0:05:51.880 --> 0:05:55.680 out a dub step reminder. That's right, absolutely, But before 0:05:55.720 --> 0:05:57.640 we move on, I do want to mention that this 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:00.040 Land is Your Land is kind of a fun a 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.400 case to look at. So the lyrics plain that the 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:05.279 land belongs to you and me, and that was actually 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:09.640 got Three's intention for the song to in He published 0:06:09.680 --> 0:06:12.720 the song with a copyright notice that read quote, this 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.279 song is copyrighted in the US for a period of 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.800 twenty eight years, and anybody caught singing it without our 0:06:18.800 --> 0:06:21.760 permission will be mighty good friends of our because we 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.599 don't give it, durn publish it, write it, sing it, 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.240 swing to it. Yodel it. We wrote it, that's all 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:30.160 we wanted to do. That's hilarious. I'm curious that, like, 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.720 why didn't the song under the public domain in the seventies, 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:35.320 you know, like what he wanted it to. Well, apparently 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:38.360 the publisher renewed the copyright at some point without gut 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:41.120 Thrie's input, So the song's copyright status wound up being 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.760 extended and now it's covered by the current ninety five 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.280 year term we have in the U. S Alright, well 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.000 in that case, I mean, now seems like a good 0:06:48.040 --> 0:06:50.680 time to break down the key changes to the copyright 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:52.680 law that have taken place here in the US over 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.839 you know, over several decades. But don't worry about your 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:57.600 eyes glazing over because I'm going to try to keep 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:01.160 this short and sweet good. So they basically American copyright 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.520 law began with the Constitution with grants Congress the power 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:07.280 to bestow exclusive rights to the author of a work 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:11.280 for quote limited times. So at first that limited time 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.520 meant fourteen years, with the option to renew for another 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:18.880 fourteen years, making the max possible twenty eight years. Those 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.080 rules were mended over time that went by nineteen o nine, 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:24.000 both copyright terms had doubled to twenty eight years or 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:27.360 fifty six total, I guess, got it. So that's where 0:07:27.360 --> 0:07:29.680 would you would have gotten that twenty eight year term 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:32.720 he claimed, you know, for the copyright he was talking about. 0:07:32.880 --> 0:07:35.040 But you know, I'm sure he never intended to renew 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.000 the song for that second twenty eight year period, that's right. 0:07:38.080 --> 0:07:40.680 So then you fast forward to nineteen seventy six and 0:07:40.680 --> 0:07:43.880 the extension started getting kind of out of hand. So 0:07:43.920 --> 0:07:45.920 the fifty six year period was bumped up to a 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.640 full seventy five years, meaning that any work produced through 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:54.800 nineteen twenty two would be copyright protected until nineteen. Then, 0:07:54.960 --> 0:07:58.160 in just as the nineteen twenty three copyrights were about 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.000 to expire for the next year, a new piece of 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.240 legislation was passed. It makes you wonder why people were 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.720 so interested in changing the legislation, But the new law 0:08:06.720 --> 0:08:09.680 attacked on another twenty years for the copyright of any 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:13.760 work made between nineteen twenty three and nineteen seventy seven. 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.440 And that's actually why there's this big twenty year gap 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:18.760 that we're just coming out of right now. That is 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.000 exactly right. So those extra two decades added in, you know, 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:25.320 was when this happened, it basically put a freeze on 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.440 the public domain editions. So the works that were scheduled 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.520 inner the public domain were suddenly off the table for 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.720 another twenty years. And so that's what made New Years 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:37.760 of nineteen such a big deal. I mean, the drought 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:42.720 is finally and I'm guessing that's for the foreseevil future 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:44.719 to right, like, like like a whole year's worth of work 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.640 should end of the public domain every year now, ongoing, right, right, 0:08:48.679 --> 0:08:51.120 And this really just the beginning of like four decades 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.120 worth of annual time capsules, you know, so you know, 0:08:54.200 --> 0:08:57.679 long as corporations don't succeed in extending the copyright terms 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.680 even further. Although if we're being fair, it's not like 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.280 the last twenty years haven't brought any new additions to 0:09:03.320 --> 0:09:06.520 the public domain from this era, because plenty of works 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.840 from the nineteen twenties through the nineteen seventies have already 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:13.000 entered the public domain because their copyrights were never renewed 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:15.800 for one reason or another. And in fact, one study 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:18.520 from two thousand eleven suggested that as many as nine 0:09:19.160 --> 0:09:22.840 of works published in the nineteen twenties were never renewed 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.680 at all, and the same is true for roughly sixty 0:09:26.080 --> 0:09:28.240 of the works from the nineteen forties, so there were 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:30.640 a ton of them that were out there. So basically 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:34.040 that extension in nine only applied to the works whose 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:37.360 copyrights were still active at that time, and so anything 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:40.520 that hadn't been previously renewed was already fair game for 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.680 public use. Of course, the tricky part has been determining 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:47.240 whether an old copyright has lapsed or not. Yeah, I'm 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:49.600 guessing that's a pretty murky business trying to figure all 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:51.240 that out, it is, And you know, so in the 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:53.320 past that's been safer to air on the side of 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:55.600 caution and just kind of steer clear of any work 0:09:55.640 --> 0:09:59.160 whose status was in question, of course, to avoid getting sued. 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:01.840 But now the concerns are out the window, at least 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:05.120 as far as works from three go, and now that 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:07.800 they passed the year mark, we know for certain that 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:10.920 they're in the public domain. So I know there's probably 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.400 some folks listening or thinking, okay, but who cares about 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:15.920 all this old timey stuff anyway. You know, it's not 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:17.920 like I'm gonna start listening to chart toppers from the 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.760 nineteen twenties or whatever. But you know, that's totally fair. 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.200 But here's the thing that Gabe was pointing out to me. 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:26.760 Most of us honestly don't know what we've been missing 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.480 out on. Like the public domain provides this great chance 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:31.920 for overlooked works to find a second lease on life. 0:10:31.920 --> 0:10:34.040 And if you look at what happened to It's a 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.760 Wonderful Life. You know, that movie actually flopped when it 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.760 was first released, but once it entered the public domain, 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:42.959 it slowly became a holiday classic. And that success only 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.280 happened because TV networks were actually able to play the 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.880 movie for free year after year. So in this weird way, 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.040 it's like cultural worth is actually greater today than it 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.000 would have been had it remained under a copyright. You 0:10:55.000 --> 0:10:57.320 know this this author Glenn Fleishman, and he had this 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:59.600 great quote in this article for The Atlantic, and and 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:03.079 he said, quote, only so much that's created has room 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:06.360 to persist in memory, culture and scholarship. Some works may 0:11:06.360 --> 0:11:09.360 have been forgotten because they were simply terrible or perishable, 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:11.800 but it's also the case that a lack of access 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:14.880 to these works and digital forms limits whether they get 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:17.240 considered at all. I mean, it's a good point and 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:19.760 actually reminds me of something I came across this week 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:22.680 from the American novelist Willi Cather, And you know, she 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:26.200 once called nineteen twenty two the year the world broke 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:28.439 in two, and that was because of all the big 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.440 literary and cultural shakeups that took place that year. It 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:34.520 was the start of the Harlem Renaissance, plus the publication 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:37.760 of works like Ulysses by James Joyce and The Waste 0:11:37.840 --> 0:11:40.880 Land by T. S. Eliott. So to her, nineteen twenty 0:11:40.960 --> 0:11:43.280 two was this turning point, like there was a world 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:46.120 before that year, and then there was a world after it. 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.240 And it, strangely enough, that's also how things broke down 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:52.559 in terms of US copyright law. So everything up through 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:56.719 nine is now part of the public domain, but it's 0:11:56.760 --> 0:11:59.600 a different story for works from nineteen twenty three and 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:03.040 beyond on. So hundreds of thousands of songs and movies 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.480 and books and newspapers, magazines, like so many different things 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:09.680 of that era had been held back for decades, longer 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.120 than they should have been. And so as a result, 0:12:12.160 --> 0:12:13.720 you figure there have to be a lot of blind 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:17.160 spots in our understanding of that period in American history. Yeah, 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:19.359 like even things we know about like the Harlem Renaissance, 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.040 the Great Depression, or World War Two. Like, we should 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:24.440 get like a fuller picture once we get access to 0:12:24.440 --> 0:12:27.040 these materials. And also it'll be so fun to see 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.880 them show up in memes and music and things. All right, well, 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:31.640 I'm excited to hear what you think should make the 0:12:31.720 --> 0:12:34.000 cut this year. But before we share our favorites, let's 0:12:34.000 --> 0:12:49.680 take a quick break. You're listening to Part Time Genius, 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.360 so we're talking about the giant wave of classic art 0:12:52.360 --> 0:12:55.320 that just entered the public domain this month. All right, Megan, 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:57.760 So I'm curious which works are you most excited to 0:12:57.760 --> 0:13:00.520 have free of their copyrights this year. So I'm just 0:13:00.559 --> 0:13:02.360 gonna go ahead and get the literature picks out of 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.480 the way first, because that's where you find a lot 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:06.760 of the heavy hitters, and honestly, it's too many to 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.360 go through. So for fiction, we've got stories from authors 0:13:09.440 --> 0:13:13.960 like Virginia Wolfe, Altice Huxley, Jane Austin Hemingway, and and 0:13:13.960 --> 0:13:16.360 then in terms of poetry, there's work from E. Cummings, 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:22.120 William Carlos, Williams, Wallace Stevens, Pablo Neruda, Robert Frost, including 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.400 one of his most famous poems, Stopping by Woods on 0:13:24.440 --> 0:13:27.200 a snowy evening like, which is just cool that these 0:13:27.200 --> 0:13:29.280 texts are out there and easier to explore and play 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:31.640 with them before. But but what about you, Like, are 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:33.040 are there any books you're happy to see in the 0:13:33.080 --> 0:13:35.560 public domain that was amazing to hear? Like all those 0:13:35.559 --> 0:13:38.360 heavy hitters? Yeah? Here, But I always like it when 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.240 famous literary characters make their way into the public domain 0:13:41.280 --> 0:13:43.720 because you get a whole bunch of new takes on them, 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.800 like that's what happened with Robin Hood or Sherlock Holmes. 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:49.200 You know, I didn't think of that. So so what 0:13:49.280 --> 0:13:52.080 new characters are we getting to play with now? Alright? Well, 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:54.760 two thousand nineteen is giving us access to new Tarzan 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:58.360 stories from Edgar Rice Burrows, but also two of Agatha 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:03.439 Christie's mystery novels star Belgian detective Hercule Paro, The Murder 0:14:03.480 --> 0:14:07.160 of Roger Ackroyd and The Murder on the Links. Wait, 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:10.400 wasn't Tarzan already in the public domain? Though? Yeah, that's right, 0:14:10.600 --> 0:14:12.640 there's a story from nineteen ten that's been in the 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.240 public domain. And actually there's one earlier poor Oh novel 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:19.720 that's already there too. So how do the laws work 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:21.960 with characters like that. I mean, can people just write 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.920 their own new Tarzan stories or can they only publish 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.000 and rework the existing books? Like is the copyright on 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.960 the character or just the stories he appears in. Well, 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.360 you can't actually copyright a name or a phrase or 0:14:34.400 --> 0:14:36.320 anything like that. But what you can do is get 0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:40.040 your character trademarked while it's still under copyright. So if 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:42.880 you take the case of Tarzan, that's what the author's 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:46.280 airs did. So even though the original Tarzan stories can 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.400 be freely published and adapted for movies or comics or 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.000 whatever else, you still can't publish your own original Tarzan 0:14:53.080 --> 0:14:55.880 books without receiving permission. And of course to do that 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:58.720 you have to pay a fee to the Boroughs Estate. 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:00.520 And so things are a little more I see when 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:04.720 it comes to Poor Oh, and well, not all copyrighted 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.760 characters qualify for trademark protection, and and some people you know, 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:12.120 maintain that poor O does not qualify. So for reasons 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:14.720 that they're they're a little too complicated to get into here. 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:17.720 But until someone is willing to gamble, you know, a 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:21.960 potential lawsuit to publish their own unauthorized story, the character's 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:25.320 legal status is kind of in limb. So the new 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.480 public domain additions for those characters are mostly exciting because 0:15:28.560 --> 0:15:31.440 it means there are new Tarzan stories or poor Oh 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:35.080 mysteries that can be safely adapted are altered by anyone, 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:38.840 even if the characters themselves are still otherwise off limits. 0:15:38.840 --> 0:15:40.640 So I am a little worried about what that might 0:15:40.680 --> 0:15:42.520 mean for my next pick here, because even though two 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:44.600 nine frees up the rights to a bunch of classic 0:15:44.600 --> 0:15:48.560 silent films from people like Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplain, Laurel, 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.120 and Hardy, which is awesome, by the way, because like 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:53.240 it would be so amazing to start seeing these movies 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:56.080 on late night TV. But you know, the one I 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.680 was most personally excited about was the Felix the Cat cartoons, 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.360 which just hit the public domain, and I was kind 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:04.600 of hoping we could add it to the PTG logo 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.080 or just make him like the official show mascot or something, 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:10.640 but I'm guessing that's not the case if he's still trademark, right, 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.120 you know, Felix was the one that stood out to 0:16:13.160 --> 0:16:15.040 me too, So I actually did a little bit of 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.320 digging on this, and it turns out that even though 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:21.320 the character is still technically trademarked by DreamWorks. They only 0:16:21.360 --> 0:16:24.560 control his use in certain instances, and and you know, 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.160 of course that's really around advertising, So how does that 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:31.560 work exactly? So you could actually publish your own Felix 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:34.240 the cat comic strips and even adapt those new stories 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:38.160 into animated shorts, but weirdly, you just can't include Felix 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:43.240 himself and any of the advertising for that. Apparently DreamWorks 0:16:43.280 --> 0:16:47.240 also owns the Felix trademark for quote life saving instruments, 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.880 so I guess a line of Felix branded fire extinguishers 0:16:49.960 --> 0:16:53.440 is totally off. I feel like that's exactly where I 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.680 was going with us, like Felix EpiPens and detectors. But 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.200 you know, if cartoons aren't your thing, we've also got 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:01.600 plenty of new public domain songs to keep us busy. 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:05.119 And there's some real chestnuts here, uh tunes like Dizzy 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:08.280 Fingers Horsey keep your tail up, I know that's a favorite, 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.679 the Pierson household raft and that timeless romantic valid o 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.760 g Oh gosh, oh golly, I'm in love. I think 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.240 these are probably in that collection of that old amberola, 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:23.680 like the house that's all those wax cylinders. That's pretty 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.159 cool to listen to, but you know it truly was 0:17:26.400 --> 0:17:28.480 a different time. I was actually listening to a few 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:30.960 songs from our list this week, and I was struck 0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:33.280 by how many of them were just kind of wide eyed, 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:36.800 upbeat nonsense. Like there was this one that was basically 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.320 about how strange it is that the earth rotates and 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.040 that it can be daytime in one part of the 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.600 world at nighttime, and another was riveting song, but and 0:17:44.680 --> 0:17:46.160 I guess for fun, they just throw in a bunch 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.320 of gibbers that doesn't rhyme or fit the meter or anything. 0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:52.320 So there's this one line that goes, when it's nighttime 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.320 in Italy, it's Wednesday over here, when it's fish day 0:17:55.320 --> 0:17:59.600 in Germany, you can't get shaved in Massachusetts. And the 0:17:59.600 --> 0:18:03.080 whole thing is just so bizarre, and I'm really hoping 0:18:03.080 --> 0:18:06.560 this catches on again. That is amazing and in the 0:18:06.600 --> 0:18:09.560 same vein if that old timy nonsense songs, I'm pretty 0:18:09.600 --> 0:18:13.000 pumped at the copyright finally expired on Yes we Have 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.320 No Bananas Today, which is actually one of the songs 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:18.320 I know. I would definitely leave it to you to 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.000 zero in on the banana song. And a bunch of these. 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:24.560 But weirdly, it turns out there's actually a sequel song 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:27.800 called the um. It's called I've Got the Yes, we 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:31.959 Have No Banana Blues and uh. Since it was released 0:18:31.960 --> 0:18:33.480 the same year as the originally, it's now in the 0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:35.720 public domain as well. So why did they do a 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:38.439 follow up song? Was just that popular? It's basically a 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:41.000 response to how popular the first song was and how 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:43.680 sick everyone was of hearing it all the time. And 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.400 so one of the line says, quote, it hasn't got 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:48.640 a bit of sense, and I go wild when they 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.000 commenced bananas bananas. I wish I could break up a 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:56.439 million pianos. I get it. I kind of love that 0:18:56.480 --> 0:18:59.240 this song is going to start annoying everyone all over 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.880 again with back out there, And I was I guess 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:05.160 that's kind of the scenario that these annual copyright expirations 0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:07.480 allow for. So it's nice to have them back in 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.600 the mix. Yeah, I guess that's true. But you know, 0:19:09.720 --> 0:19:11.879 we can probably make a more compelling case for them 0:19:11.920 --> 0:19:14.520 than that, I'm guessing. I mean, the public domain is 0:19:14.560 --> 0:19:17.240 good for lots of stuff beyond just annoying your friends 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.400 with weird old songs, No, no question, it's just fun 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:21.879 to read all those lyrics and everything. But all right, well, 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:23.520 now that we've checked out some of the most notable 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:25.800 inductees for this year, I do think we should take 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.200 a closer look at the benefits that come from having 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.760 the growing catalog of public domain works. Yeah, it sounds great, 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:45.240 but before we get into that, let's take another quick break. 0:19:47.760 --> 0:19:49.280 All right, So we spent a lot of time to 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:52.160 day singing the praises of the public domain and kind 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:54.959 of lamenting all the extensions that certain copyrights have been 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:57.480 granted over the years. And honestly, at this point, I'm 0:19:57.480 --> 0:19:59.680 a little bit worried that people might get the impression 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:03.040 that we are anti copyright. Well, I mean, I do 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:06.000 think we could survive that sort of scandal, But let's 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:08.000 go ahead and make the case for copyrights anyway, just 0:20:08.040 --> 0:20:10.960 to be safe. It's actually something we're doing because even 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:14.560 though copyrights can feel annoying or restrictive, the core idea 0:20:14.600 --> 0:20:16.920 makes a lot of sense granting creators the right to 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.359 control how their work is used, and in its purest form, 0:20:20.480 --> 0:20:23.920 copyright protections benefit not just creators but society as a whole. 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:27.119