Assuming Lucas holds true to his word (and I imagine he will; he’s too old to take another 20 year break), and also assuming he never sells the rights (I have no idea what his position on this is), when is the soonest we could possibly see another theatrical Star Wars movie? Would it be 50 years after his death?
Could/would his heirs (assuming he has any, I know nothing about the man’s personal life) continue making Star Wars movies or sell the rights to them as soon as he dies?
I hope no one senses the desperation in my words :).
I believe that commercial trademarks could continue to prevent future unofficial Star Wars movies. IIRC, the copyrights on the original Mickey Mouse cartoons have passed but Disney can prevent people from using those characters due to ongoing commercial use and trademarks. Whatever studio owns the rights to the Star Wars commercial empire would presumable be able to do the same.
Lucasfilm owns the rights (Fox owns the distribution rights only). His heirs will probably have a certain amount of say, he has three kids (all adopted, I don’t think that’s relevant though). But I imagine Lucasfilm itself will have Managing Directors for a long time yet, not unlike Disney. Doesn’t that perpetuity of business mean copyrights are, or can be, contantly renewed?
No, you’re confusing trademarks with copyright. Trademarks are perpetual; copyrights expire, even corporate copyrights. There is no such thing any more as renewing a copyright.
However, current law puts corporate copyrights at 95 years.
Mickey Mouse was introduced after 1922, so even the earliest cartoons are still in copyright. When those run out people will have the right to show or distribute those particular cartoons without payment to Disney. They will not have any right to create new Mickey Mouse cartoons because Disney holds the trademark on the character in perpetuity. Same for Star Wars.
Copyrights can be assigned, and the rights sold. If Lucas’ heirs want to do so they can.
Presuming Congress doesn’t pass another extension. The Constitution says only that the period of protection be finite; technically, ten thousand years is finite. And every time the issue has come up, Disney has gotten another extension.
So in my opinion, the answer to the OP is “shortly after the heat death of the universe.”
Opinions don’t mean much in GQ, and this is a good example why.
That the lengthened period of copyright was put through just to benefit Disney appears to be an article of faith among many, but it doesn’t have much fact to back it up. As noted, Disney may have lost whatever money it was making by selling rights to Steamboat Willie and other early cartoons if the extension did not pass, but this is a relative trifle to them. The real money is in the trademarks and those are forever.
In fact, the U.S. had little choice but to extend the copyright length to match the EU’s extension of theirs. Most of the western world has matching copyright longevity today. Unless all those countries decided to change identically and at the same time, the result would be the kind of global chaos that the revisions to the Copyright Act were intended to prevent.
Disney doesn’t have that power. No set of corporations has that power. Check back in 2018 to see if I’m wrong.
It’s worth pointing out - or maybe it isn’t - that Lucas currently allows fan-made films set in the Star Wars universe, as long as they don’t make any money from them. Granted, that little condition is a bit of an obstacle…
To clarify: Trademarks are perpetual so long as the owner of the trademark defends it. In the current environment, Disney and Lucasarts are very likely to continue defending their trademarks for the forseeable future. But if the Lucasarts media empire were to fall into the hands of an heir who didn’t give a damn about Star Wars, all he would have to do to release the trademarks would be absolutely nothing. If a bunch of other folks start making and selling movies about the Skywalker family and R2D2 and C3PO and the like, and Lucasarts’ lawyers stop sending them cease-and-desist letters, then eventually you can hold in court that Lucasarts is no longer defending their trademarks, and the rights lapse.
By contrast, copyrights last only for a limited time, but they’re automatic, without the owner needing to do anything (though there are some things, like registration, which make it easier to enforce those rights). So if Lucas just gave up on defending his rights right this minute, it would become legal for anyone to make and sell their own movies starring Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, but they still wouldn’t be able to show the existing movies without Lucas’ permission. In the probably more likely case that Lucas and his heirs continue to defend their trademarks, in several decades, the copyright will expire, and anyone will be able to show the original movies when and whereever they want, but they’ll still be prohibited from making new Star Wars movies (because those would use character names, the Star Wars title, or other trademarked elements).
So, on that basis, is it possible for me to make a commercial Star Wars movie, and give all the proceeds to charity? As long as I personally don’t make money from it…
My bad, I’m sure you’re correct. Is it true that if they didn’t extend them again then the earliest Mickey cartoons would have been out of copyright now?
(Got to learn to be more careful when posting on 4 hours sleep)
The earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons were released in 1928. The previous maximum copyright term was 75 years. 1928 + 75 = 2003. With the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, the copyrights on the earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons will last through 2023.
Not so. Failure to protect copyright can lead to a work entering the public domain.
Title 17 of the United States Code
Chapter 5: Copyright Infringement and Remedies
§ 507. Limitations on actions
(a) Criminal Proceedings. — Except as expressly provided otherwise in this title, no criminal proceeding shall be maintained under the provisions of this title unless it is commenced within 5 years after the cause of action arose.
(b) Civil Actions. — No civil action shall be maintained under the provisions of this title unless it is commenced within three years after the claim accrued.
Chapter 5 and that section 507 applies to infringements of copyright, as I read it.
I don’t understand how it is possible for a book to enter earlier than termination into the public domain at this point under the new law. The dates at which copyright renewals were needed have past and all works created under the current law do not need renewal and have no need to be defended.
Unless this is something that applied to other than books under some specialized provision, I’m not following you at all.
I thought the Lucasfilm Corporation and not George Lucas the individual owned all rights to the Star Wars universe?
Anyways, in my mind it wouldn’t be all that impossible that other Star Wars movies come out. Lucas Licensing has been licensing third parties to make fictional works about Star Wars for years. I see no reason why Lucas or Lucasfilm after Lucas dies wouldn’t be interested in selling an expensive license to a filmmaker that was interested in doing a Star Wars film, business is business. And even if George is opposed to more Star Wars movies once he dies the company goes on with out him and will operate, I’m assuming, on business concerns. So if they see a profit to be made with new Star Wars movies, I don’t see why they wouldn’t make them.
Actually, the person responsible for the extension of the copyright length isn’t Walt Disney; it’s Adoph Hitler. The copyrights for Mein Kampf were due to expire in 1995, and the government of Bavaria wanted an extension to prevent it from going PD. Germany increased the term, and other countries followed suit.
