NEXTSTEP: From public domain to adorable promotion

Though a strange concept to many of us Disney-era moderns, the founders of the United States felt that for culture to evolve and thrive, ownership of creative works needed to pass to the public after the creators had a “reasonable” period of time to profit form ideas. Originally, as written into the U.S. Constitution, the period or ownership was just 17 years, followed by an optional 17-year extension. Today, due in large part to lobbying by the Disney corporation and a law championed by former congressman and first husband of Cher, Sonny Bono, copyright now covers works for 95 years.

It wasn’t until 2019 that works published after 1923 began entering the public domain. Much was made of the first Mickey Mouse talkie, Steamboat Willie, produced in 1928, entering the public domain on January 1, 2023. Ironically, Disney was parodying a movie by another artist produced that same year, Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr.

But the short story is this, all Americans now collectively own all creative work produced through 1929 (there are exceptions and details, so do not take this as legal sanction). And that is how Buster Keaton has come to help promote high-rate share certificates for POSTMKTG’s favorite credit union, NextStep.*

*Actually, the holder of the Steamboat Bill, Jr copyright failed to renew the copyright years ago. Regardless, the movie is now squarely in the public domain.