YouTube Still Blocking Access To Steamboat Willie On Behalf Of Disney In Some Countries
from the a-public-domain,-if-you-can-keep-it dept
As you well know, the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse is now in the public domain in the US, meaning you can use a version of that Mickey (or any other newly public domain work) in our Gaming Like It’s 1928 Public Domain Game Jam. Also, we’re already seeing some of the expected effort to put down low quality stakes, including the inevitable Mickey Mouse horror film and Mickey Mouse horror video game.
While unsurprising and easy, in the meantime we’re also seeing lots of folks uploading the original Steamboat Willie in a variety of places. You can find lots of versions uploaded to YouTube. But just because Mickey is public domain in the US, that does not mean that Big Mouse will simply stop the copyright claiming.
Matt Lee uploaded his own copy only to quickly get notified that the video was being blocked in certain countries (as a side note, Bluesky content is now public, so you can see the posts on Bluesky without an account).
I figured I’d check it out via the magic of VPN travel. I could still view his upload from Germany, but when I bounced over to Poland, I got the following:
I’ve seen some commentary suggesting that Steamboat Willie is not yet in the public domain in the EU, which might explain this, but it’s not clear to me if this is true. The EU is supposed to apply the “rule of the shorter term,’ respecting the entrance into the public domain in other countries if the work originated in those countries, though as that article notes, a German court decided that an 1892 treaty between the US and Germany pre-empted that obligation.
But, still, assuming Poland does respect the rule of the shorter term, it seems like Steamboat Willie should be free there as well.
It’s also not clear what triggered this. It might just be YouTube’s ContentID autoflagging stuff, and no one bothered to update the system to recognize that Steamboat Willie is in the public domain. Or, maybe Disney hasn’t updated things on its end (or perhaps it only did so in the US).
Either way, in a global era, all of this seems pretty silly anyway. I mean, given that the intent of copyright law was to give a creator the incentive to create in the first place, and the initial 56 years the US gave Disney seemed like enough at the time, it’s absolutely ridiculous that we’re still even in this spot. Mickey should have been freed decades ago.
But, for now, it seems to be taking some time to work that public domain-ness through the system.
Filed Under: autoflag, contentid, copyright, germany, global copyright, mickey mouse, poland, public domain, rule of the shorter term, steamboat willie, takedowns
Companies: disney, google, youtube
Comments on “YouTube Still Blocking Access To Steamboat Willie On Behalf Of Disney In Some Countries”
Since YouTube is hardening their blocks on ad-blockers and Invidious instances, I guess they are just in some sort of crazy-blocking-frenzy-trance.
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They’re just following their normal trajectory. ContentID exists partly because they would have been sued out of existence without it, and yet they faced major lawsuits from companies that uploaded the videos they were suing over themselves. Competitors died despite being legally and morally right.
They’ve also been changing rules about content to placate advertisers. I know numerous channels who have faced some major issues in the last year where they face issues monetising videos, or have videos they’ve had uploaded for years suddenly be deemed infringing. Among the companies issuing claims? Disney, and their many subsidiaries, of course.
YT should be criticised where they fail, but it’s always useful to remember that the root of the problem is still that the old guard will make frivolous claims and it’s still legally and financially best for YT to side with the claims in the first instance.
Time to make an anti-copyright ad using Steamboat Willie. Free at last, free at last, Thank God almighty Willie is free at last!
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The big, mouse-eating cat is the copyright goon; Mickey mouse is the copyright freedom fighter.
That's what happens if copyright holders go autopilot on auto-takedowns
There is one thing in life, that is AI cannot replace humans, AI is a tool, not a replacement.
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So what? Who cares about a dumb, outdated animated mouse from 1928?
The only thing that could make me upset about Disney getting YouTube to block Steamboat Willie in some countries was if the blocked content was a parody where Steamboat Willie was dressed as an SS-Sturmbannführer who was personally involved in the gassing of the Palestinians. Now that would be funny and worth watching!!
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“Who cares about a dumb, outdated animated mouse from 1928?”
You mean the “dumb, outdated animated mouse from 1928” that Disney still uses to hawk merchandise internationally in both its theme parks and its stores? Who’s “dumb and outdated” now?
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Is the mouse dressed up as an SS-Sturmbannführer in the ads? If not, I don’t care!
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Oh, oh! A version of The Great Dictator with the 1928 version of Mickey Mouse taking Charlie Chaplin’s role! Thanks for the idea, you racist dipshit.
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The largest media conglomerate in the world, who used it to block anything entering the same public domain they used to built their empire until very recently. I suspect that they didn’t try for another copyright extension because even people as dumb as you would realise that another one would make the term effectively infinite and even they can’t justify not having public culture.
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Never doubt the sheer greed of copyright-types, and the mental gymnastics as to why they feel entitled to hold onto the abstract vagueness of their intellectual property.
I think there’s very little doubt that if Disney could ask for another extension, a la Sonny Bono’s wife for copyright that lasted “forever minus a day”, they would. They might just be at a point where they’ve all but exhausted enough public goodwill for the risk to not be worth it. They’ve already seen the backlash of what happens when parents have to tell their kids that they’re not allowed to have a Frozen singalong party.
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Were they singing:
my solution to bogus copyright claims
just lik ethe 3 strike rule for piracy,if a content provider issues 3 invalid takedown requests they lost the copyright on the item in question
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That has many many flaws.
How about: if a content provider issues 3 invalid takedown demands they lose takedown privileges for a year?
If it can be proved that they knowingly issued 3 takedown demands (ie, they knew they were false when issued) then the company issuing takedown notices loses all rights to issue such notices, permanently?
The problem is that a lot of takedowns are issued by proxy. So if I wanted to watch Sports Goofy, I could just issue 3 takedown notices on fair use Sports Goofy I found somewhere, then challenge the takedowns, and suddenly Sports Goofy has no copyright, despite Disney having nothing to do with the takedown demands.
Going the other way, Disney could spin up a law firm specifically to issue takedown requests on Steamboat Willie, and when that results in the law firm getting blocklisted, they just close it down and open a new one with the same employees.
So I don’t think there’s an easy answer here: the DMCA is inherently flawed.
Then you use a VPN to circumvent that. Using a VPN or Tor to bypass regional restrictions does not break any laws.
The link is giving me a notice saying “Sign-in Required” and “This user has requested that their content only be shown to signed-in users.” It’s possible they changed this setting post-publication but just so you’re aware.
“…meaning you can use a version of that Mickey (or any other newly public domain work) in our Gaming Like It’s 1928 Public Domain Game Jam.”
But not Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, or any other character that appeared in A.A. Milne’s first book if you’re outside the U.S., meaning that Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is technically an infringing work due to the involvement of a UK-based production company. I won’t bother contacting either Disney or Milne’s estate to let them know, however. If they care that much about it, let them figure it out for themselves.
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As aggressive as Disney is with their IP’s, I’m fairly certain they would have sued the production companies into the ground as soon as the movie was announced if they could have.
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What makes you think they couldn’t have? Anyone can sue anyone for anything. A court might throw it out, but certainly Disney can afford a few years of appeals, or even fines for blatently bogus lawsuits. Repeat this process for everyone involved in the production and distribution, repeat in every country….
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The fact that they didn’t.
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Maybe they thought suing a small UK production company would finally show them up as the copyright bullies that they are, and that’s why they didn’t. Did you ever stop to think of that, or did you already have your dismissal ready?
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Eh… I still would be wary about giving Disney the benefit of the doubt.
They have a very extensive (and expensive!) history of proving that they are very much willing to go after people in the name of copyright.
The mere fact that they didn’t immediately bully the producers of Steamboat Willie’s spinoffs out of existence is not reassurance that they have no intention of doing so. Disney has not earned back the goodwill to merit a favorable assumption.
I’d like to take this opportunity to state that Walt Disney’s earlier Mickey Mouse cartoons Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho are also in the Public Domain, having been made in the same year, and all the Oswald Rabbit cartoons should be clear as well because they were made in earlier years.
In Poland it’s death of the author+75 years. When did Walt die?
Re: Making sense
I hope he made quite a few more cartoons during all these years he is dead.
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In Poland, it’s death of the latest of four different people to die +75 years (up to the end of the year), just like it’s death of the latest of four different people to die +70 years (up to the end of the year) in other European countries. In other words, Mickey Mouse might still be under copyright in countries like the UK if not for them following the rule of the shorter term, implementation of which which wasn’t required under the rules change allowing it.
Re: 1966
Walt Disney died on December 15, 1966.
Not surprising, just disappointing
Not the least bit surprised that YT didn’t bother to update the ContentID database in a timely manner…or at all. This isn’t the only time someone got dinged because the roboflaggers didn’t keep up with the times, but it is the most prominent by a wide margin.
It’s not just Youtube, though. Alphabet as a whole has been sluggish on this front. One of my New Year’s hobbies since Public Domain Day reactivated in the US is going on Google Books and asking for copyright reviews on the books that should’ve been already opened up for full access. Kahlil Gibran’s “The Prophet” was the big PD get for January 1, 2019. It was in all the news articles, most of them pointing to Google Books as a likely source, but it took years for a full-view copy to be findable there. Since then they’ve either gotten better at the review process or I’ve gotten better at finding the most clearable editions, but that the process only starts if an end-user gives it a push is a sign that something’s not right.
Re: And if you're wondering what that had to do with the story...
…I had two “Steamboat Willie” tabs open and put the comment in the wrong one. Apologies for the clutter.
Link Mastodon instead
Please don’t link closed social media posts when there’s a perfectly fine open version crossposted on Mastodon: https://social.coop/@mattl/111689343218120753