109-562: Lucky Rabbit may refer to: Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , a cartoon character and the cartoon itself El conejo de la suerte , a Spanish singing game, or the name of the song Lucky rabbit charm "Lucky Rabbit", a character from the Lucky Town designed by Susumu Matsushita Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
218-465: A "Public Domain Day" was initially informal; the earliest known mention was in 2004 by Wallace McLean (a Canadian public domain activist), with support for the idea echoed by Lawrence Lessig . As of 1 January 2010, there is as Public Domain Day website lists the authors whose works are entering the public domain. There are activities in countries around the world by various organizations all under
327-500: A 2013 throwback-style Mickey Mouse cartoon, Get a Horse! While only 19 of 26 cartoons were previously known to have survived, a couple of Oswald's lost cartoons were found in the 2010s. In 2015, the British Film Institute 's National Archives were found to hold his Sleigh Bells (1928) footage. The BFI and Walt Disney Animation Studios worked to restore the short. Long-term Disney animator David Bossert wrote
436-466: A Service Station at Disney's California Adventure (near the entrance) that only sells exclusive "Oswald The Lucky Rabbit" merchandise including Oswald ears, hats (baseball caps), shirts, t-shirts, plates, coats, cups, mugs, plush toys, key-chains, and much more. The Oswald character showed up at the parks in Florida and California on the day Disney reacquired Oswald, but made no further appearances at
545-480: A better place for forgotten characters, especially his "bunny children" and his wife Ortensia. Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two is a video game that was released on November 18, 2012. Unlike the previous game, Epic Mickey 2 features full voiced cut-scenes with Frank Welker (Welker had also provided Oswald's vocal effects and the Shadow Blot in the previous game) as Oswald's first voice actor in an Oswald
654-592: A book, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: The Search for the Lost Disney Cartoons which was released in 2017. A Japanese man, Yasushi Watanabe, read the book and discovered that he had a missing 1928 Oswald cartoon, Neck & Neck , since he was a teenager. A series centered on Oswald was in development with the project announced in 2019 for a potential release on Disney+ . Disney Television Animation veteran Matt Danner revealed that
763-529: A copyright has expired depends on an examination of the copyright in its source country. In most countries that are signatories to the Berne Convention , copyright term is based on the life of the author, and extends to 50 or 70 years beyond the death of the author. (See List of copyright terms of countries .) In the United States, determining whether a work has entered the public domain or
872-407: A drawing". Not only were gags used, but his humor differed in terms of what he used to make people laugh. He presented physical humor , used situations to his advantage and presented situational humor in general and frustration comedy best shown in the cartoon The Mechanical Cow . He would use animal limbs to solve problems and even use his own limbs as props and gags. He could be squished as if he
981-502: A forest together with other anthropomorphized toys. These included Toby Bear, Maggie Lou the wooden doll, Hi-Yah Wahoo the turtle-faced Indian, and Woody Woodpecker —depicted as a mechanical doll filled with nuts and bolts (hence his "nutty" behavior). In 1944, with the addition of writer John Stanley , the stuffed animal motif was dropped, as were Maggie Lou, Woody, and Wahoo. Oswald and Toby became flesh and blood characters living as roommates in "Lantzville". Initially drawn by Dan Gormley,
1090-507: A hick"—marched "one half-block north" on Broadway to MGM to visit Fred Quimby . During this period, Walt and Lillian attended the premier of the Oswald short Rival Romeos , which debuted at the Colony on 53rd and Broadway. In February 1928, Disney traveled to New York City in hopes of negotiating a more profitable contract with his producer Charles Mintz. As economic problems were apparent at
1199-614: A home for "forgotten" Disney characters, including Oswald, who rules over the environment. Oswald fashioned Wasteland after Disneyland, although it is darker and distorted. He implements his likeness into areas Mickey Mouse normally appears, such as the iconic Partners statue with Walt Disney and other imagery throughout the town. Oswald was the first cartoon character to be "forgotten" and eventually lose his relevance, now inhabiting Wasteland. Oswald also dislikes Mickey for stealing his popularity that he felt he deserved. Despite his resentment, Oswald tries to maintain peace and make Wasteland
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#17327656515531308-586: A limited edition grayscale plush toy appeared shortly after the DVD set's release. The Disney Store also began to introduce Oswald into its merchandise lines, starting with a canvas print and Christmas ornament that became available in Fall 2007. A standard-issue color plush toy matching Oswald's appearance in Epic Mickey appeared in late 2010. This was followed by an ongoing roll-out of clothing and other products at
1417-1076: A line of products developed by Disney and Givenchy . Restored public domain versions of the shorts Trolley Troubles and All Wet (both 1927) were released on Disney+ in September 2023. Shortly after the rabbit starred in his black-and-white animated silent shorts between 1927 and 1928, he sold merchandise for Universal: a chocolate-covered marshmallow candy bar, a stencil set, and a pin-backed button. In 2004 and 2005, Oswald products became popular in Japan and were primarily made available as prizes in UFO catchers and as official merchandise in Universal Studios Japan , manufactured by Taito and/or Medicom, these products included puppets, inflatable dolls, keyrings, and watches. Oswald made his first Disneyland appearance at Tokyo Disneyland on March 31, 2010, as an Easter float. As of October 2017, Oswald has
1526-432: A new cartoon in secret, starring a new character which would soon become the most successful cartoon character in film history and later became the foundation of a global entertainment empire. The first Mickey Mouse cartoon to be filmed was Plane Crazy in the summer of 1928, but it was produced as a silent and held back from release. The first Mickey Mouse film with a synchronized soundtrack, Steamboat Willie , reached
1635-468: A new character similar in appearance to Oswald as a replacement: Mickey Mouse , who went on to become one of the most famous cartoon characters in the world. In 2003, Buena Vista Games pitched a concept for an Oswald-themed video game to then-Disney President and future-CEO Bob Iger , who became committed to acquiring the rights to Oswald. In 2006, The Walt Disney Company acquired the trademark of Oswald (with NBCUniversal effectively trading Oswald for
1744-479: A new rabbit character that he could sell to Universal, because there were too many cat characters ( Krazy Kat , Felix the Cat, etc.). After Oswald was created, Winkler signed a contract with Universal on March 4 the same year, which would guarantee 26 Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons. Work on both the character and series began soon after Disney moved his studio to Hyperion Avenue. The Universal studio heads rejected
1853-465: A peg for gags. Instead, his stated intention was "to make Oswald peculiarly and typically OSWALD". In 1927, because of cost and technical restrictions, Disney and his chief animator Ub Iwerks ended their work on the Alice Comedies and Julius the Cat . Around the same time, Charles Mintz got word that Universal Pictures wanted to get into the cartoon business, so he told Disney to create
1962-528: A series was in development as a follow-up for the team behind Legend of the Three Caballeros , but that they "got broken up and scattered to the wind". He expressed hope that the series could still be revived in the future and further hinted that another team would develop it, because Disney was still heavily invested in wanting to revive the character. On December 1, 2022, an online hand-drawn animated Oswald short by Walt Disney Animation Studios
2071-400: A shirt and shorts. Both redesigns were done by Manuel Moreno, who recalled that in the 1935 redesign that Lantz said to make Oswald cute and to get rid of the black on him, because Disney was also changing his characters. The cartoons containing the new, white-furred Oswald seemed different from their predecessors in more than one way, as the stories themselves became softer. Minor changes in
2180-457: A work may be subject to rights in one country and be in the public domain in another. Some rights depend on registrations on a country-by-country basis, and the absence of registration in a particular country, if required, gives rise to public-domain status for a work in that country. The term public domain may also be interchangeably used with other imprecise or undefined terms such as the public sphere or commons , including concepts such as
2289-475: A work, as well as other forms of transformation or adaptation. Copyrighted works may not be used for derivative works without permission from the copyright owner, while public domain works can be freely used for derivative works without permission. Artworks that are public domain may also be reproduced photographically or artistically or used as the basis of new, interpretive works. Works derived from public domain works can be copyrighted. Once works enter into
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#17327656515532398-424: A younger character, peppy, alert, saucy, and venturesome, keeping him also neat and trim". With Oswald, Disney began to explore the concept of "personality animation", in which cartoon characters were defined as individuals through their movements, mannerisms, and acting, instead of simply through their design. Around this period, Disney had expressed: "I want the characters to be somebody. I don't want them just to be
2507-619: Is a combination of the copyright symbol , which acts as copyright notice , with the international 'no' symbol . The Europeana databases use it, and for instance on the Wikimedia Commons in February 2016 2.9 million works (~10% of all works) are listed with the mark. The underlying idea that is expressed or manifested in the creation of a work generally cannot be the subject of copyright law (see idea–expression divide ). Mathematical formulae will therefore generally form part of
2616-512: Is a film that was never under copyright, was released to public domain by its author, or whose copyright has expired. All films in the United States before January 1st, 1929 have been entered in the public domain. Pamela Samuelson has identified eight "values" that can arise from information and works in the public domain. Possible values include: Derivative works include translations , musical arrangements , and dramatizations of
2725-622: Is better known as aspirin in the United States—a generic term. In Canada, however, Aspirin , with an uppercase A, is still a trademark of the German company Bayer , while aspirin, with a lowercase "a", is not. Bayer lost the trademark in the United States, the UK and France after World War I, as part of the Treaty of Versailles . So many copycat products entered the marketplace during the war that it
2834-620: Is definitely worth more than a fourth-round draft choice. I'm going to be a trivia answer someday. In January 2007, a T-shirt line from Comme des Garçons seems to have constituted the first new Disney Oswald merchandise. Following in December was a two-disc DVD set, The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit , included in Wave Seven of the Walt Disney Treasures DVD series. Several Oswald collectors' figurines and
2943-497: Is in the public domain due to an unrenewed copyright. Courts in different jurisdictions have come to different conclusions as to whether the reproduction of a public domain work gains its own rights protection, or whether it to is in the public domain. In a German 2016 case, the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen , an art museum, sued Wikimedia Commons over photographs uploaded to the database depicting pieces of art in
3052-479: Is not possible to waive those rights, but only the rights related to the exploitation of the work. A solution to this issue (as found in the Creative Commons Zero dedication) is to interpret the license by setting "three different layers of action. First, the right holder waives any copyright and related rights that can be waived in accordance with the applicable law. Secondly, if there are rights that
3161-513: Is only registered in reference to food products (a trademark claim is made within a particular field). Such defences have failed in the United Kingdom. Public Domain Day is an observance of when copyrighted works expire and works enter into the public domain. This legal transition of copyright works into the public domain usually happens every year on 1 January based on the individual copyright laws of each country . The observance of
3270-506: Is required to grant permission (" Permission culture "). There are multiple licenses which aim to release works into the public domain. In 2000 the WTFPL was released as a public domain like software license . Creative Commons (created in 2002 by Lawrence Lessig , Hal Abelson , and Eric Eldred ) has introduced several public-domain-like licenses, called Creative Commons licenses . These give authors of works (that would qualify for copyright)
3379-411: Is still under copyright depends upon what the law or regulation was at creation, and whether new regulations have grandfathered in certain older works. Because copyright terms shifted over the course of the 20th century from a fixed-term based on first publication, with a possible renewal term , to a term extending to 50, then 70, years after the death of the author. The claim that "pre-1929 works are in
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3488-718: Is the Zero Clause BSD license , released in 2006 and aimed at software. In October 2014, the Open Knowledge Foundation recommends the Creative Commons CC0 license to dedicate content to the public domain, and the Open Data Commons Public Domain Dedication and License (PDDL) for data. In most countries, the term of rights for patents is 20 years, after which the invention becomes part of
3597-422: The public sphere or commons , including concepts such as the "commons of the mind", the "intellectual commons", and the "information commons". A public-domain book is a book with no copyright, a book that was created without a license, or a book where its copyrights expired or have been forfeited. In most countries the term of protection of copyright expires on the first day of January, 70 years after
3706-528: The German Copyright Act , stating that since the photographer needed to make practical decisions about the photograph that it was protected material. In contrast, in the 1999 US case Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp. , the court ruled that exact photographic copies of public domain images could not be protected by copyright in the United States because the copies lack originality . In some countries, certain works may never fully lapse into
3815-546: The Music of Mesopotamia system, was created 4,000 years ago. Guido of Arezzo introduced Latin musical notation in the 10th century. This laid the foundation for the preservation of global music in the public domain, a distinction formalized alongside copyright systems in the 17th century. Musicians copyrighted their publications of musical notation as literary writings, but performing copyrighted pieces and creating derivative works were not restricted by early copyright laws. Copying
3924-501: The creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived , or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds the exclusive rights, anyone can legally use or reference those works without permission. As examples, the works of William Shakespeare , Ludwig van Beethoven , Miguel de Cervantes , Zoroaster , Lao Zi , Confucius , Aristotle , L. Frank Baum , Leonardo da Vinci and Georges Méliès are in
4033-502: The "commons of the mind", the "intellectual commons", and the "information commons". Although the term domain did not come into use until the mid-18th century, the concept can be traced back to the ancient Roman law , "as a preset system included in the property right system". The Romans had a large proprietary rights system where they defined "many things that cannot be privately owned" as res nullius , res communes , res publicae and res universitatis . The term res nullius
4142-427: The "personality" of the person drawing them, are not subject to copyright protection. This is separate from the patent rights just mentioned. A trademark registration may remain in force indefinitely, or expire without specific regard to its age. For a trademark registration to remain valid, the owner must continue to use it. In some circumstances, such as disuse, failure to assert trademark rights, or common usage by
4251-537: The 2013 animated short Get a Horse! He was the subject of the 2015 feature film Walt Before Mickey . Oswald also appears as a townsperson in Disney Infinity 2.0 . In 2022, Oswald appeared in a new short produced by Disney. He also has a cameo appearance in Once Upon a Studio . In January 2023, the copyrights on several of the original Oswald shorts, as well as the character, expired. Those films and
4360-647: The Dell Oswald stories. In 2010, Oswald starred in the digi-comic series Epic Mickey: Tales of the Wasteland , a prequel to the Epic Mickey video game, sharing what the Wasteland was like before Mickey arrived there. In 2011, Oswald starred in the Norwegian Disney comic story "En magisk jul!", written by David Gerstein and drawn by Mark Kausler. It is based on and takes place in the times of
4469-718: The Disney Store, various chain stores, and the Disney California Adventure theme park. In 2012, the newly redesigned Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure included Oswald's Filling Station, an Oswald merchandise stand themed as a 1920s gas station. The shop exclusively only sells just "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" merchandise such as "Oswald Ears" hats (a similar style to the popular Mickey Mouse Club black mouse-eared caps), as well as shirts, t-shirts, plush toys, pins, mugs, and other special Oswald items. In 2014, Oswald began making appearances in
Lucky Rabbit - Misplaced Pages Continue
4578-653: The Lucky Rabbit Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also known as Oswald the Rabbit , Oswald Rabbit , and Ozzie ) is an animated cartoon character created in 1927 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks for Universal Pictures . He starred in several animated short films released to theaters from 1927 to 1938. Twenty-seven animated Oswald shorts were produced at the Walt Disney Studio . After Universal took control of Oswald's character in 1928, Disney created
4687-648: The Lucky Rabbit production from Disney. Bill Nolan was Oswald's first voice actor in 1929, when Walter Lantz produced the Oswald cartoons. Tetsuya Nomura , creator and lead producer of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, had requested for Oswald's use in Kingdom Hearts III , but the response from Disney was that the character would be "too difficult" to use, with no further clarification or details from Disney. Nomura cites Oswald as one of his favorite Disney characters. On November 30, 2023, Oswald
4796-584: The UK). In countries where they cannot be waived they will remain into full effect in accordance to the applicable law (think of France, Spain or Italy where moral rights cannot be waived)." The same occurs in Switzerland. The Unlicense , published around 2010, has a focus on an anti-copyright message. The Unlicense offers a public domain waiver text with a fallback public domain-like license inspired by permissive licenses but without attribution. Another option
4905-482: The US, foreign-sourced works and US-sourced works are now treated differently, with foreign-sourced works remaining under copyright regardless of compliance with formalities, while domestically sourced works may be in the public domain if they failed to comply with then-existing formalities requirements—a situation described as odd by some scholars, and unfair by some US-based rightsholders. Works of various governments around
5014-565: The US, works could be easily given into the public domain by just releasing it without an explicit copyright notice . With the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988 (and the earlier Copyright Act of 1976 , which went into effect in 1978), all works were by default copyright protected and needed to be actively given into public domain by a waiver statement/ anti-copyright can call notice . Not all legal systems have processes for reliably donating works to
5123-464: The ability to decide which protections they would like to place on their material. As copyright is the default license for new material, Creative Commons licenses offer authors a variety of options to designate their work under whichever license they wish, as long as this does not violate standing copyright law. For example, a CC BY license allows for re-users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon material, while also agreeing to provide attribution to
5232-670: The area near the shop. In 1995, Oswald briefly appeared in Férias Frustradas do Pica-Pau , a Woody Woodpecker video game released for the Master System and the Mega Drive in Brazil only. Oswald is one of the main characters in the 2010 video game Epic Mickey and its 2024 remake, Epic Mickey: Rebrushed . The world of Epic Mickey takes place in "Wasteland", a setting that mirrors elements of Disneyland but as
5341-468: The art of Jack Bradbury , known also for his Mickey Mouse work. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald , the name "Oswald" came to have negative connotations. He made brief appearances in the Woody Woodpecker comics series until it ended in the 1970s. Through the end of the 20th century, the comics produced outside the U.S. carried on the look and story style of
5450-603: The author in any of these cases. In 2009 the Creative Commons released the CC0 , which was created for compatibility with law domains which have no concept of dedicating into public domain . This is achieved by a public domain waiver statement and a fallback all-permissive license, in case the waiver is not possible. Unlike in the US, where author's moral rights are generally not specifically regulated, in some countries where moral rights are protected separately in law it
5559-519: The character are now in the public domain . The character will appear in Oswald: Down the Rabbit Hole , an upcoming horror film directed by Lilton Stewart III, and starring Ernie Hudson as the titular character. While under Disney's creative control, Oswald was one of the first cartoon characters that had personality. As outlined by Walt himself: "Hereafter we will aim to [make] Oswald
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#17327656515535668-608: The character over the years. June Foray provided Oswald's voice in The Egg Cracker Suite , which was the final theatrical short to feature him. She later voiced him again for an unaired radio pilot, Sally in Hollywoodland (1947). Oswald made a cameo appearance in the first animated sequence with both sound and color (two-strip Technicolor), a 2½-minute animated sequence of the live action movie The King of Jazz (1930), produced by Laemmle for Universal. It
5777-566: The character, spanning the work of all three producers. After Lantz took over production in 1929, Oswald's look changed to some degree over the following years: Oswald got white gloves on his hands, shoes on his feet, a shirt, a "cuter" face with larger eyes, a bigger head, and shorter ears. With 1935's Case of the Lost Sheep , an even more major makeover took place: the character was drawn more realistically now, with white fur rather than black, shoes are removed, plus wearing suspenders instead of
5886-585: The classic Oswald shorts from 1927 to 1928. The story was later reprinted, as "Just Like Magic!", in the American Disney comic Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #726 (2015). In February 2006, Disney CEO Bob Iger initiated a trade with NBCUniversal in which a number of minor assets, including the rights to Oswald and the 27 shorts that Walt Disney had worked on, were acquired by The Walt Disney Company in exchange for sending sportscaster Al Michaels from Disney's ABC and ESPN to NBC Sports . At
5995-674: The construction of the idea of "public domain" sprouted from the concepts of res communes , res publicae , and res universitatis in early Roman law. When the first early copyright law was originally established in Britain with the Statute of Anne in 1710, public domain did not appear. However, similar concepts were developed by British and French jurists in the 18th century. Instead of "public domain", they used terms such as publici juris or propriété publique to describe works that were not covered by copyright law. The phrase "fall in
6104-463: The contract, partly due to Iwerks informing Disney that George Winkler, at the behest of Mintz, had been going behind Disney's back during pick-up runs for Oswald reels and hiring away his animators. Eventually, Disney traveled with his wife Lilly to New York to find other potential distributors for his studio's cartoons, including Fox and MGM, prior to meetings with Mintz. As Walt later recalled, he placed two Oswald prints under one arm and—feeling "like
6213-405: The date and location of publishing, unless explicitly released beforehand. The Musopen project records music in the public domain for the purposes of making the music available to the general public in a high-quality audio format. Online musical archives preserve collections of classical music recorded by Musopen and offer them for download/distribution as a public service. A public-domain film
6322-633: The deal was announced: When Bob [Iger] was named CEO, he told me he wanted to bring Oswald back to Disney, and I appreciate that he is a man of his word. Having Oswald around again is going to be a lot of fun. Around the same time, the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets made a similar deal, the Chiefs giving the Jets a draft pick as compensation for releasing coach Herm Edwards from his contract. Referring to this trade, Michaels said: Oswald
6431-470: The death of the latest living author. The longest copyright term is in Mexico, which has life plus 100 years for all deaths since July 1928. A notable exception is the United States, where every book and tale published before 1929 is in the public domain; US copyrights last for 95 years for books originally published between 1929 and 1978 if the copyright was properly registered and maintained. For example:
6540-455: The drawing style would continue, too. With Happy Scouts (1938), the second-to-last Oswald film produced, the rabbit's fur went from being all-white to a combination of white and gray. Unlike the Disney shorts, in which Oswald did not speak, Lantz's cartoons began to feature actual dialogue for Oswald, although most of the cartoons were still silent to begin with. Animator Bill Nolan performed
6649-405: The first Oswald cartoon, Poor Papa , for its poor production quality and the sloppiness and age of Oswald. Disney, together with Iwerks, created a second cartoon titled Trolley Troubles featuring a much younger, neater Oswald. The short, released on September 5, 1927, officially launched the series and proved to be Universal's greatest success to date. Poor Papa was later released in 1928 and
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#17327656515536758-609: The first issue of More Fun . Oswald's second run in comics began in Dell Comics ' New Funnies , which ran from 1942 to 1962. Following the typical development seen in most new comics, the New Funnies stories slowly morphed the character in their own direction. At the start of the New Funnies feature, Oswald existed in a milieu reminiscent of Winnie-the-Pooh : he was portrayed as a live stuffed animal , living in
6867-496: The first year and 17 the next, before others took over Oswald. Animators Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising , unhappy with Mintz, asked Universal head Carl Laemmle to remove Mintz, suggesting they would be the ones to continue the Oswald series. Laemmle terminated Mintz's contract but, instead of hiring Harman and Ising, he opted to have the Oswald cartoons produced right on the Universal lot. Laemmle selected Walter Lantz to produce
6976-501: The former of which refers to melody, notation or lyrics created by a composer or lyricist, including sheet music, and the latter referring to a recording performed by an artist, including a CD, LP, or digital sound file. Musical compositions fall under the same general rules as other works, and anything published before 1925 is considered public domain. Sound recordings, on the other hand, are subject to different rules and are not eligible for public domain status until 2021–2067, depending on
7085-419: The launching point for transformative retellings such as Tom Stoppard 's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Troma Entertainment 's Tromeo and Juliet . Marcel Duchamp's L.H.O.O.Q. is a derivative of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa , one of thousands of derivative works based on the public domain painting. The 2018 film A Star is Born is a remake of the 1937 film of the same name , which
7194-480: The museum. The museum claimed that the photos were taken by their staff, and that photography within the museum by visitors was prohibited. Therefore, photos taken by the museum, even of material that itself had fallen into the public domain, were protected by copyright law and would need to be removed from the Wikimedia image repository. The court ruled that the photographs taken by the museum would be protected under
7303-488: The new series of Oswald shorts (the first of which was 1929's Race Riot ). Featuring Bill Nolan as an animator (and later director), the Lantz-produced Oswalds had a decidedly different tone and aesthetic than the Disney shorts, with more slapstick and surreal visual gags, some contributed by a young Tex Avery . Over the next decade, Lantz produced 142 Oswald cartoons, for a total of 194 films featuring
7412-622: The ocean of the public domain." Copyright law differs by country, and the American legal scholar Pamela Samuelson has described the public domain as being "different sizes at different times in different countries". Definitions of the boundaries of the public domain in relation to copyright, or intellectual property more generally, regard the public domain as a negative space; that is, it consists of works that are no longer in copyright term or were never protected by copyright law. According to James Boyle this definition underlines common usage of
7521-518: The public domain (see waiver ); examples include reference implementations of cryptographic algorithms, and the image-processing software ImageJ (created by the National Institutes of Health ). The term public domain is not normally applied to situations where the creator of a work retains residual rights, in which case use of the work is referred to as "under license" or "with permission". As rights vary by country and jurisdiction,
7630-419: The public domain either by virtue of their having been created before copyright existed, or by their copyright term having expired. Some works are not covered by a country's copyright laws, and are therefore in the public domain; for example, in the United States, items excluded from copyright include the formulae of Newtonian physics and cooking recipes. Other works are actively dedicated by their authors to
7739-740: The public domain should be: "it should be a place of sanctuary for individual creative expression, a sanctuary conferring affirmative protection against the forces of private appropriation that threatened such expression". Patterson and Lindberg described the public domain not as a "territory", but rather as a concept: "[T]here are certain materials – the air we breathe, sunlight, rain, space, life, creations, thoughts, feelings, ideas, words, numbers – not subject to private ownership. The materials that compose our cultural heritage must be free for all living to use no less than matter necessary for biological survival." The term public domain may also be interchangeably used with other imprecise or undefined terms such as
7848-602: The public domain" can be traced to mid-19th-century France to describe the end of copyright term . The French poet Alfred de Vigny equated the expiration of copyright with a work falling "into the sink hole of public domain" and if the public domain receives any attention from intellectual property lawyers it is still treated as little more than that which is left when intellectual property rights, such as copyright , patents , and trademarks , expire or are abandoned. In this historical context Paul Torremans describes copyright as a, "little coral reef of private right jutting up from
7957-555: The public domain" is correct only for published works; unpublished works are under federal copyright for at least the life of the author plus 70 years. Legal traditions differ on whether a work in the public domain can have its copyright restored. In the European Union, the Copyright Duration Directive was applied retroactively, restoring and extending the terms of copyright on material previously in
8066-435: The public domain, derivative works such as adaptations in book and film may increase noticeably, as happened with Frances Hodgson Burnett 's novel The Secret Garden , which became public domain in the US in 1977 and most of the rest of the world in 1995. By 1999, the plays of Shakespeare, all public domain, had been used in more than 420 feature-length films. In addition to straightforward adaptation, they have been used as
8175-416: The public domain, e.g. civil law of continental Europe . This may even "effectively prohibit any attempt by copyright owners to surrender rights automatically conferred by law, particularly moral rights ". An alternative is for copyright holders to issue a license which irrevocably grants as many rights as possible to the general public. Real public domain makes licenses unnecessary, as no owner/author
8284-468: The public domain, to the extent that their expression in the form of software is not covered by copyright. Works created before the existence of copyright and patent laws also form part of the public domain. For example, the Bible and the inventions of Archimedes are in the public domain. However, translations or new formulations of these works may be copyrighted in themselves. Determination of whether
8393-914: The public domain. In the United Kingdom , for example, there is a perpetual crown copyright for the Authorized King James Version of the Bible . While the copyright has expired for the Peter Pan works by J. M. Barrie (the play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up and the novel Peter and Wendy ) in the United Kingdom, it was granted a special exception under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (Schedule 6) that requires royalties to be paid for commercial performances, publications and broadcasts of
8502-405: The public domain. In the United States, the contents of patents are considered valid and enforceable for 20 years from the date of filing within the United States or 20 years from the earliest date of filing if under 35 USC 120, 121, or 365(c). However, the text and any illustration within a patent, provided the illustrations are essentially line drawings and do not in any substantive way reflect
8611-541: The public domain. Term extensions by the US and Australia generally have not removed works from the public domain, but rather delayed the addition of works to it. However, the United States moved away from that tradition with the Uruguay Round Agreements Act , which removed from the public domain many foreign-sourced works that had previously not been in copyright in the US for failure to comply with US-based formalities requirements . Consequently, in
8720-400: The public without regard for its intended use, it could become generic , and therefore part of the public domain. Because trademarks are registered with governments, some countries or trademark registries may recognize a mark, while others may have determined that it is generic and not allowable as a trademark in that registry. For example, the drug acetylsalicylic acid (2-acetoxybenzoic acid)
8829-518: The right holder cannot waive under applicable law, they are licensed in a way that mirrors as closely as possible the legal effect of a waiver. And finally, if there are any rights that the right holders cannot waive or license, they affirm that they will not exercise them and they will not assert any claim with respect to the use of the work, once again within the limits of applicable law. (...) In countries where moral rights exist but where they can be waived or not asserted, they are waived if asserted (e.g.
8938-625: The same year, Oswald ear hats appeared at the Emporium at Walt Disney World in Florida. As of May 2014, Oswald can be spotted on the exit of The Seven Dwarves ride at Magic Kingdom, Orlando. He is carved into a tree near the exit door. During the same year a new Oswald costumed character began meet-and-greets at Tokyo DisneySea on April 1, and on September 14 Oswald began making appearances on Buena Vista Street at Disney California Adventure. Public domain The public domain ( PD ) consists of all
9047-448: The screen that fall and became a major hit, eclipsing Oswald. Plane Crazy was later given its own synchronized soundtrack and released on March 17, 1929. Mintz, meanwhile, opened his own studio (later known as Screen Gems ) consisting primarily of former Disney employees, where he continued to produce Oswald cartoons, among them the first Oswald with sound, Hen Fruit (1929). Coincidentally, Disney and Mintz each produced nine cartoons
9156-561: The series was later drawn by the likes of Dan Noonan and Lloyd White. In 1948, Toby adopted two orphan rabbits for Oswald to raise. Floyd and Lloyd, "Poppa Oswald's" new sons, stuck around; Toby was relegated to the sidelines, disappearing for good in 1953. Later stories focused on Oswald adventuring with his sons, seeking odd jobs, or simply protecting the boys from the likes of rabbit-eating Reddy Fox and (from 1961) con man Gabby Gator—a character adapted from contemporary Woody Woodpecker cartoon shorts. This era of Oswald comics typically featured
9265-645: The services of Al Michaels as play-by-play announcer on NBC Sunday Night Football ). Oswald returned in Disney's 2010 video game, Epic Mickey . The game's metafiction plot parallels Oswald's real-world history, dealing with the character's feelings of abandonment by Disney and envy toward Mickey Mouse. He has since appeared in Disney theme parks and comic books , as well as two follow-up games, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two and Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion . Oswald made his first appearance in an animated production in 85 years through his cameo appearance in
9374-436: The shadow effects, cross-cutting, and staging of action in films featuring Douglas Fairbanks and Lon Chaney . Over several cartoons, Disney and his animators would develop Oswald's persona: an "emotive, fast-moving wise guy, alternately ebullient and grouchy". Walt Disney did not want for Oswald to simply be "a rabbit character animated and shown in the same light as the commonly known cat characters", as well as merely just
9483-600: The shops on Main Street USA. In 2012, Disney California Adventure park at the Disneyland Resort reopened with a new entry area called Buena Vista Street , themed to 1920s Los Angeles. Oswald's Service Station is a 1920s gas station (housing a gift shop) located at the north end of the street and features Oswald prominently in its logo. Disney California Adventure also sells Oswald merchandise and next-door Disneyland offers Mickey Mouse merchandise exclusively. In
9592-499: The state or to an authors' association. The user does not have to seek permission to copy, present or perform the work, but does have to pay the fee. Typically the royalties are directed to support of living artists. In 2010, The Creative Commons proposed the Public Domain Mark (PDM) as symbol to indicate that a work is free of known copyright restrictions and therefore in the public domain. The public domain mark
9701-401: The story of Peter Pan within the UK, as long as Great Ormond Street Hospital (to whom Barrie gave the copyright) continues to exist. In a paying public domain regime, works that have entered the public domain after their copyright has expired, or traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions that have never been subject to copyright, are still subject to royalties payable to
9810-593: The storyline was reused in a Mickey Mouse short five years later, in Mickey's Nightmare . Oswald the Lucky Rabbit became Universal's first major hit in 1927, rivaling other popular cartoon characters, such as Felix the Cat and Koko the Clown . The success of the Oswald series allowed the Walt Disney Studio to grow to a staff of nearly twenty. Walt's weekly salary from the series was $ 100 while Roy Disney 's
9919-567: The talk but wasn't as good at walking the walk". In order to make his Oswald cartoons look "real", Disney turned away from the styles of Felix the Cat , Koko the Clown , Krazy Kat , and Julius the Cat and began emulating the camera angles, effects, and editing of live-action films. To learn how to base gags on personality and how to build comic routines, rather than heaping one gag after another, he studied Laurel and Hardy , Harold Lloyd , Charlie Chaplin , and Buster Keaton . In order to stir emotion in an audience, Disney studied and scrutinized
10028-461: The term public domain and equates the public domain to public property and works in copyright to private property . However, the usage of the term public domain can be more granular, including for example uses of works in copyright permitted by copyright exceptions . Such a definition regards work in copyright as private property subject to fair use rights and limitation on ownership. A conceptual definition comes from Lange, who focused on what
10137-472: The time, ABC had lost its contract for NFL broadcast rights, and despite recently signing a long-term contract with ESPN, Michaels was interested in rejoining broadcast partner John Madden at NBC for the Sunday night package. Universal transferred the trademark of the character to Disney, and in exchange, Disney released Michaels from his employment contract, allowing him to sign with NBC . The deal included
10246-405: The time, Mintz figured Disney should settle for a 20% cut, although large turnarounds were promised if the studio's finances showed considerable growth. While most of his fellow animators left for Mintz's studio, Disney quit working on the Oswald cartoons. On his long train ride home, he came up with an idea to create another character, and retain the rights to it. He and Iwerks would go on to develop
10355-583: The time. In 2010, Tokyo Disneyland produced a float featuring Oswald for their first Easter holiday event. In 2011, Oswald appeared with other old Disney characters on the construction walls for Disney California Adventure Park's new entrance. Oswald also appeared on a poster as a magician's rabbit in Town Square Theater in Magic Kingdom park. Oswald appeared on various items of clothing available for purchase at Disneyland Paris in
10464-447: The title Lucky Rabbit . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Lucky_Rabbit&oldid=1136466538 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Oswald
10573-404: The trademark rights to the character and the 27 Disney-produced Oswald shorts along with the handover of any physical Disney-produced Oswald material Universal still had in their possession. Iger had been interested in the property because of an internal design document for a video game, which became Epic Mickey . Walt Disney's daughter, Diane Disney Miller , issued the following statement after
10682-532: The voice of Oswald in Cold Turkey , the first Lantz cartoon with dialogue, and the following year Pinto Colvig , who was working as an animator and gag man at the studio, started voicing Oswald. When Colvig left the studio in 1931, Mickey Rooney took over the voicing of Oswald until early in the following year. Starting in 1932, Lantz ceased to use a regular voice actor for Oswald, and many studio staff members (including Lantz himself) would take turns in voicing
10791-467: The works of Jane Austen , Lewis Carroll , Machado de Assis , Olavo Bilac and Edgar Allan Poe are in the public domain worldwide as they all died over 100 years ago. Project Gutenberg , the Internet Archive and Wikisource make tens of thousands of public domain books available online as ebooks . People have been creating music for millennia. The first musical notation system,
10900-411: The world may be excluded from copyright law and may therefore be considered to be in the public domain in their respective countries. They may also be in the public domain in other countries as well. The legal scholar Melville Nimmer has written that "it is axiomatic that material in the public domain is not protected by copyright, even when incorporated into a copyrighted work". Before 1 March 1989, in
11009-675: Was $ 65. The Disney brothers earned $ 500 per Oswald short and split the year-end profits, with Walt receiving 60% ($ 5,361), and Roy receiving 40% ($ 3,574). With income gained from the Oswald series, Walt and Roy purchased ten acres of land in the desert. They also invested in an oil-drilling venture. Iwerks also invested his income in several stone mills to crush paint pigment he used to make paint formulas that were utilized by animators for decades. Oswald's success also resulted in Universal and Winkler signing another contract in February 1928, guaranteeing three more years of Oswald cartoons. As time passed, Disney feared that Mintz would forgo renewal of
11118-776: Was a cameo in The Woody Woodpecker Polka (1951), also in Technicolor, which by then had become the norm in the cartoon industry. He also appeared in a 1952 theatrical commercial for the Electric Autolite Company, with his voice being provided by Dick Beals . Oswald's first appearance in comics was in a series of comic strips titled Oswald the Rabbit , which ran from February 1935 to January 1936. They were drawn by Al Stahl and published by National Allied Publications . The comics were serialized on one page of every issue of New Fun and
11227-575: Was added as a playable racer in Disney Speedstorm during its fifth season alongside Ortensia, while he appears in Disney Dreamlight Valley as part of its "Eternity Isle" expansion. He is voiced by David Errigo Jr. in both appearances. In 2012, sketch animation from a lost 1928 cartoon, Harem Scarem , was compiled by archivists at Disney and released to help celebrate Oswald's 85th Anniversary. He made an appearance in
11336-457: Was deemed generic just three years later. Informal uses of trademarks are not covered by trademark protection. For example, Hormel , producer of the canned meat product Spam , does not object to informal use of the word "spam" in reference to unsolicited commercial email. However, it has fought attempts by other companies to register names including the word 'spam' as a trademark in relation to computer products, despite that Hormel's trademark
11445-404: Was defined as things not yet appropriated. The term res communes was defined as "things that could be commonly enjoyed by mankind, such as air, sunlight and ocean." The term res publicae referred to things that were shared by all citizens, and the term res universitatis meant things that were owned by the municipalities of Rome. When looking at it from a historical perspective, one could say
11554-437: Was made of rubber and could turn anything into a tool. His distinct personality was inspired by Douglas Fairbanks for his courageous and adventurous attitude as seen in the cartoon short Oh, What a Knight . In regard to Oswald's personality, Disney historian David Gerstein describes the difference between Mickey and Oswald: "Imagine Mickey if he were a little more egotistical or fallible, or imagine Bugs Bunny if he talked
11663-478: Was not until 1934 that Oswald got his own color sound cartoons in two-strip Technicolor, Toyland Premiere and Springtime Serenade . The Oswald cartoons then returned to black-and-white, except for the last one, The Egg Cracker Suite (1943), released as a part of the Swing Symphonies series. Egg Cracker was also the only Oswald cartoon to use three-strip Technicolor . Oswald's last cartoon appearance
11772-476: Was released. The short was directed by Eric Goldberg , scored by Dean McClure, and produced by Dorothy McKim, with Mark Henn and Randy Haycock working on the animation alongside Goldberg. It marked Oswald's first short produced by Disney, as well as his first short ever since Feed the Kitty (1938). A few weeks later, a hand-drawn animation piece by Disney Animation featuring Oswald was released, meant to promote
11881-428: Was widespread, in compliance with the law, but expansions of those laws intended to benefit literary works and responding to commercial music recording technology's reproducibility have led to stricter rules. Relatively recently, a normative view that copying in music is not desirable and lazy has become popular among professional musicians. US copyright laws distinguish between musical compositions and sound recordings,
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