Disney Owns Your Culture

What happen when a company relies heavily on public culture as its stock and trade? What happens when a company appropriates folk tales and tradition then copyrights and claims as private property? There’s nothing easier than cashing in on a tried, trued and beloved story, but what happens when you cross the line into stealing the people’s own culture?
David Bollier’s Brand Name Bullies, published in 2005 by Wiley, shows how Disney had built an empire by poaching and repurposing public domain material.
Bollier calls it the “substitution effect” – where public domain material is available to all, including companies, but then …read more