Of all the corporations, or dare I say, cultural institutions to go after, the Republicans’ attack on Disney is one of the most surreal I’ve encountered. I mean, to be honest, Disney characters aren’t exactly the model for progressive ideology, and the man himself, Walt Disney—I mean think of those crows in Dumbo for God’s sake.
But Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley doesn’t care about Disney’s racist past. He cares about furthering the agenda of keeping people from saying the word “gay.” Gay. Gay. Gay. Gay.
Tuesday, Hawley introduced the Copyright Clause Restoration Act, a bill that will “strip woke corporations like Disney of special copyright protections,” a statement from the senator reads.
In other words, it’s payback time for Disney’s defiant response to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ Parental Rights in Education bill, more commonly (and appropriately) known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill—which goes into effect on July 1, 2022.
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Hawley’s bill attempts to limit Disney’s copyright protections to 56 years. The company currently has 95-year protection, which ends on Jan. 1, 2024, according to Variety.
In 2003, the original black-and-white Mickey Mouse character was set to go public; in 1998, the company launched into legal mode to protect the beloved mouse and earned an additional 20 years of protection. Thanks to the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, Disney won’t lose their rights to the original 1928 version of Mickey until 2024. For later versions of Mickey Mouse, as well as all other characters, the company will maintain the same extended rights, Variety reports. In fact, so will anyone who holds a copyright; Disney’s efforts to maintain their intellectual property holdings have changed American patent and trademark law, an effect that sees broad effects in nearly every industry.
Hawley, who will likely take a stab at the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, doesn’t care about Mickey or his goofy friends, he only wants his pound of flesh from Disney.
In his statement Tuesday, Hawley said:
“The age of Republican handouts to Big Business is over. Thanks to special copyright protections from Congress, woke corporations like Disney have earned billions while increasingly pandering to woke activists. It’s time to take away Disney’s special privileges and open up a new era of creativity and innovation.”
Hawley’s provision hopes to make the change retroactive for Disney—as well as other huge entertainment companies “that have been granted unnecessarily long copyright monopolies,” the presser reads.
Paul Goldstein, an intellectual property expert at Stanford Law School, told Variety that Hawley’s bill is “a blatant unconstitutional taking of property without compensation.”
Tyler Ochoa, an intellectual property expert at the Santa Clara University School of Law, says: “The Supreme Court has held that Congress can extend the term… But if you try to take the term away, that is almost certainly a taking of property.”
Limiting copyright protections to 56 years is not only unlikely to go anywhere, but would draw the ire and outrage of almost all creatives—writers, artists, graphic designers, singers, songwriters—anyone who holds a copyright.
“This has zero chance… He’s showboating,” Ochoa tells Variety.