I have two questions, how can a company like Disney own fairytales that they stole from folklore, doesn’t that fall under fair use or public domain?
Also, how does Disney still own copyright for their characters pass the 50 year copyright statue of limitation?
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The folklore and fairytales that Disney depicts in their movies does fall under public domain. There are other renditions of those stories in books, cartoons and live action movies. However the elements of the stories which Disney came up with is copyright protected. So other people can make cartoons depicting Cindarella but they can not use the same drawings or animations that Disney used but have to make their own.
The copyright term in the US is not 50 years. That was the old legislation of 1976. However the current legislation of 1998 extends the term to 70 years. However those term lengths is only for work by a single author and starts at the death of the author. Most of Disneys work was done by multiple authors, all the writers and animators, so copyright lasts until 95 years after publication. So for example Mickey Mouse was first published in 1928 will not become public domain until 2024. That is unless there is a new legislation before then which extends the copyright term even further.
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