Have you watched the original short? Mouse deserves to be crushed at the bottom of the sea, what an asshole
Are we sure cartoons breathe air? And if Mickey is a mammal, does that mean Minnie has nipples?
Hey, look, Disney has more lawyers than I do and while Steamboat Willie entered the public domain, didn’t wanna risk that Mickey [as a term] hadn’t.
Would this picture have been ILLEGAL a month ago or why is steamboat Willy such a big deal rn?
Maybe you could defend fair use under parody, which doesn't mean Disney wouldn't drag you through courts if it was high profile enough
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People are pretending like this is a big deal when it isn't, and Mickey mouse memes would never have resulted in any sort of action by Disney because they're memes.
Here's an old as shit Mickey Mouse meme. Note how it is still online and no one is in trouble for it, and it isn't even Steamboat Willie.
https://i.imgflip.com/6e4m9m.jpg
Expect this to continue for a while because people love feeling like they're "sticking it to the man" even though they could've been doing that for ages and none of it matters.
People using the mouse in memes doesnt matter because thats not a copyright violation, but the many people using it in comics, and planning to use it for tv shows, youtube short content, and video games absolutely are.
The memes are joking and referencing the advent of that content, not stating that they, the memes themselves, are part of that content.
.... And this post isnt genuinely claiming that this meme was illegal before the first of the month. Its making fun of the change.
Point? There is no point, its a joke. Its not a statement, theyre making fun of the mouse
Lmao ok. Yea I am definitely enjoying the feeling of "the little guy found a loophole", even if it's false.
It's only a big deal because of what Disney didn't do, which is lobby to extend copyright yet again. That's it.
Oh, and Steamboat Willy itself can be distributed as much as you want, at least in the US. It's a good year to be a connoisseur of 1920s animation.
Unfortunately, the imperialist rat entered the public domain too late to have taken advantage of the shipwreck hype.