[Coco] [Color Computer] Need to know if I'm in safe waters here

[Neil Morrison]

Not only that but
The Ninth Circuit held that "Originality is the indispensable
prerequisite for
copyrightability." North Coast Industries. v. Jason Maxwell, Inc., 972
F.2d 1031
(9th Cir. 1992). The Supreme Court agreed that originality is a
constitutional
requirement for copyrightability.
There were other almost identical 'mouse' characters at that time, none
of which were Disney. I've seen one (Micky Mouse
<http://www.middletownborough.com/Community/history/micky_1926.asp> ) on
the Antiques Roadshow. It could be argued that Disney copied those (he
wasn't much for originality). BTW, Disney are trying to find a way to
copyright Snow White and the other fairy  tales for themselves!

Neil

--- In ColorComputer at yahoogroups.com, Zagros Sadjadi <zagrossadjadi at ...>
wrote:
>
> The earliest Mickey Mouse cartoons actually *are* in the public domain
due to numerous technical errors that cannot be corrected or mitigated.
See Vanpelt (1999):

http://www.public.asu.edu/~dkarjala/publicdomain/Vanpelt-s99.html
<http://www.public.asu.edu/%7Edkarjala/publicdomain/Vanpelt-s99.html>
...