Day: January 1, 2003

Lessig on Steamboat Willie and Intellectual Property

Lawrence Lessig has an excellent observation about Disney’s role in both extremes of intellectual property protection.

Mickey Mouse, of course, first appeared in “Steamboat Willie” which was released in 1928. “Steamboat Willie” was in turn a takeoff of Buster Keaton’s “Steamboat Bill” which had been released earlier that year. Lessig notes that the script for “Steamboat Willie” begins with this instruction,

Orchestra starts playing opening verses of ‘Steamboat Bill.’

To which Lessig says, “Try doing a cartoon take-off of one of Disney, Inc.’s latest films with an opening that copies the music, and see how far your Walt Empire gets.”

Hmm…there goes my live action “Monsters Co.” musical.

Lil’ Kim, Russell Simmons Generate Controversy with “One World” Cover

Russell Simmons’ fashion/music magazine “One World”, isn’t winning many Muslim fans for its provactive cover featuring rapper Lil’ Kim wearing a burqa and little else (not that I imagine her music would have been very popular with that crowd anyway).

Press International News Agency has a news story/editorial raging against the cover saying that,

Muslims have been outraged by the cover photo of the popular U.S. urban culture magazine One World, which features female rapper Lil Kim wearing the head covering of a burqa and a revealing lingerie set.

. . .

Whatever Simmons and the One World staff intended with this photo is irrelevant, because for Muslims, both the 7 million in the United States and the 1.2 billion spread across the rest of the world, it is a clear and unambiguous jab at the religion of Islam.

Source:

Rap Music Mogul Disrespects Muslims with Magazine Cover. Ali Asadullah, Press International News Agency, December 24, 2002.