2026-10-01 07:24 UTC
Replies (2)
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@knowprose@mastodon.social 2026-10-01 08:57
@farseen@fedi.nptr.xyz @reformed_content_marketer@mastodon.social @mcc@mastodon.social 'public domain' isn't your content unless you released it into the public domain. You are conflating issues.
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@celesteh@hachyderm.io 2026-10-01 11:33
@farseen@fedi.nptr.xyz @reformed_content_marketer@mastodon.social @knowprose@mastodon.social @mcc@mastodon.social Some countries have the idea of moral rights that reach beyond normal copyright. In the US the framework is much more cut and dry. The original version of Steam Boat Willie is in the public domain which means he bongs to everyone and noone. There are absolutely no limits as to what can be done with him in terms of modification and reuse. Like Shakespeare and the King James Bible and every single work over a certain age, no person has the right to restrict what any other person (or corporation) does. Anything released into the public domain by a living artist (or their estate if they're recently deceased) is in the same situation, at least with regards to copyright law in the US. Most slop generators are primarily governed by US law, to the extent that they're governed at all. Slop generators do also run afoul of plagiarism, which does apply to works in the public domain. I cannot pass off Steam Boat Willie as my own work.