Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 2056?

[finnobrit]

One of the other threads on here mentioned Star Trek being like King Arthur, that it'll be around forever with lots of new versions of it being made in the future.

But of course a big reason why things like Arthur, Robin Hood, Sherlock Holmes etc stick around is because they're not copyright works. Anyone who has a vision for these stories can make their own version, even commercial film companies.

My question is: does anyone have an exact year when the first characters from Star Trek become like Sherlock Holmes, and leave copyright?

At the moment I think US copyright law extends to a ridiculous 90 years, which would give us the year 2056, but is that correct? Can we expect the law to be perpetually extended to protect things like Mickey Mouse? Or will it collapse completely under the weight of so many people watching pirated material?

 

[Orcus]

Re: Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 20

I don't think so: I think the copyright will continue to be renewed over and over - it's too valuable a franchise for Paramount to let go.

The lessons were learned after "the powers that be" neglected to renew copyright on shows like One Step Beyond and money lost when their "public domain" status meant that residuals no longer needed to be paid to the original owners...

 

[CoveTom]

Re: Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 20

At the risk of being too political, copyright law -- worldwide, but in the United States in particular -- has gotten way out of hand. Those who keep pushing to expand copyright law make no bones about the fact that they would like copyrights to last forever. But since the United States Constitution specifies that copyrights must be for limited periods, they just keep gradually pushing it back farther and farther and farther.

Being able to be compensated for ones creations is fine, and I'm all for that. But there comes a point of absurdity. Should Mozart's music still be controlled by his great great great great great grandchildren or, worse yet, by some company that has inherited the rights? Alot of politicians and those in the entertainment industry seem to think so.

For Star Trek specifically, since all of the episodes, films, etc. would constitute "works made for hire" with corporate ownership, the current relevant copyright term in the United States is 120 years from date of creation or 90 years from date of publication, whichever is shorter. So even the earliest episodes of TOS won't come into the public domain until at least 2056, if the term is not extended farther.

The issue of when someone else will be able to use the characters from Star Trek, BTW, is a murkier one, because when you talk about writing an original story that uses Captain Kirk, for example, you deal with not only the issue of copyright law but trademark law as well.

Oh, and Sherlock Holmes, BTW, is not public domain. Paramount got into trouble over that because they didn't license the characters for TNG. When they did "Ship in a Bottle," they had to go back and pay the license fee.

 

[Green Shirt]

Re: Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 20

I'll be 97 years old, so I probably won't care.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Re: Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 20

I don't think so: I think the copyright will continue to be renewed over and over - it's too valuable a franchise for Paramount to let go.

The lessons were learned after "the powers that be" neglected to renew copyright on shows like One Step Beyond and money lost when their "public domain" status meant that residuals no longer needed to be paid to the original owners...

Waitaminute, no one owns the copyright to One Step Beyond....?

 

[JoeFromEarth]

Re: Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 20

Paramount has spent the money to register many of the characters as trademarks - that's why you'll see the ® symbol after various names a lot. This is completely separate from copyright. Copyright only applies to stories, paintings, and other works of art. And is automatic - no registration required (though you can if you want). Trade marks are not.

 

[finnobrit]

Re: Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 20

Paramount has spent the money to register many of the characters as trademarks - that's why you'll see the ® symbol after various names a lot. This is completely separate from copyright. Copyright only applies to stories, paintings, and other works of art. And is automatic - no registration required (though you can if you want). Trade marks are not.

That's a good point, but trademarks only give Paramount control of Star Trek merchandise and marketing materials.

If Star Trek out of copyright, people will be able to distribute it and use its elements in new works freely. (But of course in 2056 that would only apply to the original series' earliest episodes.)

Oh, and Sherlock Holmes, BTW, is not public domain.

Most of Sherlock Holmes is in the public domain everywhere. Doyle died in 1930, so by English and Scottish law the copyright has lapsed on his entire works.

The claim by Doyle's estate hinges entirely on one single Holmes book still being in copyright in the US (until 2023 or something?), but that should not apply to the previous books in the series, nor should it apply to people outside the US, nor should it apply to characters from the earliest works.

But for the sake of this topic, we could use Robin Hood as another example of a popular series in the public domain.

 

[Orcus]

Re: Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 20

I don't think so: I think the copyright will continue to be renewed over and over - it's too valuable a franchise for Paramount to let go.

The lessons were learned after "the powers that be" neglected to renew copyright on shows like One Step Beyond and money lost when their "public domain" status meant that residuals no longer needed to be paid to the original owners...

Waitaminute, no one owns the copyright to One Step Beyond....?

Wasn't that the point I was making? No one owns the copyright now...*

* - Oh, except for Worldvision Enterprises, according to the Wiki...

 

[barnaclelapse]

Re: Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 20

I'll be 97 years old, so I probably won't care.

I'll probably care too much, since I won't have anything better to do but drink whiskey, smoke cigarettes, watch old episodes of Newhart and try to fuck the nurses on an hourly basis.

 

[rustyslacker]

Re: Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 20

you will be to old to care...

 

[CoveTom]

Re: Does Star Trek become a PD free-for-all like Sherlock Holmes in 20

That's a good point, but trademarks only give Paramount control of Star Trek merchandise and marketing materials.

That remains to be seen. I guarantee you that Paramount would attempt to claim that their trademark protections prevent anyone from using character names like Captain Kirk even after the copyright on the original source material expires. And I can see a reasonable chance of a court accepting that argument.

I'm not saying I agree with that. I think intellectual property law in general needs to be rewritten and made much more reasonable. I'd kill all copyrights after no more than 50 years, and that might even be pushing it.

But given the way the legal, political and corporate systems work in modern times, I don't see anything like that happening.