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In recent weeks the GOP and Disney have been going to war. Florida Republican governor DeSantis signed a bill to revoke Disney’s special status as owner and local government of a part of Florida.
A CNBC.com article from April 22, 2022 said “Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed into law a bill revoking the Walt Disney Company’s special district status in the state, just days after the legislation was first introduced on Tuesday.”
And a May 10, 2022 Hollywood reporter article said “Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Tuesday proposed legislation that limits copyright protection to 56 years. According to the Copyright Clause Restoration Act of 2022, the law would retroactively apply to existing copyrights.”
Now while this is clearly retaliatory for Disney criticism of the ‘Don’t say gay’ bill, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like Judo or Jiu-jitsu this is a chance to use our opponent’s force against them. Disney has abused the copyright laws, singlehandedly changing, not just U.S. but international copyright law. The article laid out “with the copyright set to expire in 1984, Disney lobbied for reform and secured the passage of the Copyright Act of 1976. This allowed ownership of works by corporations for 75 years. In 1998, Disney was again able to delay the entry of Mickey Mouse into the public domain with the…
