09-26-2007, 04:03 PM
Divergence point: 1926-1927 or so. Walt Disney is treated fairly when the studio he worked for acquired the rights to his "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" character.
Major consequence: Copyright law is much more calmly enforced, for one, and it's not nearly as restricted. In fact, many of the changes in OTL simply did not happen without Uncle Walt's bitter experience with Oswald causing him to give his company a corporate culture of "no! The rights are MINE! PAYYYY MEEEEEEE! FOREVERRRRR!"
This world's US copyrights expire after 15 years. Disney makes most of its money in this timeline through licensing Trademarks, which have more validity to be owned for a long time than copyright.
As a result, I believe that the pop culture is a lot more vibrant.
GURPS Infinite Worlds use name: Biblios
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
Major consequence: Copyright law is much more calmly enforced, for one, and it's not nearly as restricted. In fact, many of the changes in OTL simply did not happen without Uncle Walt's bitter experience with Oswald causing him to give his company a corporate culture of "no! The rights are MINE! PAYYYY MEEEEEEE! FOREVERRRRR!"
This world's US copyrights expire after 15 years. Disney makes most of its money in this timeline through licensing Trademarks, which have more validity to be owned for a long time than copyright.
As a result, I believe that the pop culture is a lot more vibrant.
GURPS Infinite Worlds use name: Biblios
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll