Kim Jong Un's Mysterious Female Companion Hides The Real Issue: Piracy Of Disney Characters!
from the really? dept
There's an almost entirely silly article over at CNN speculating -- with absolutely no knowledge -- about the identity of a woman seen frequently with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. I'm not quite sure how that makes a news story, but what caught Dark Helmet's eye was that in this bizarre little story, there was a bit from Disney, in which it felt compelled to mention that a performance seen by Kim and the woman that included Disney characters was not authorized:The mystery woman accompanied the young leader to a Pyongyang theater on Friday night to watch a performance of North Korea's Moranbong band. The display included a cast of Disney characters, attracting the attention of The Walt Disney Company which issued a statement Tuesday saying it had not authorized their use.As if (1) anyone cared about that or (2) anyone actually thought that Disney had licensed its characters to the North Korean government for a special performance.
This is what happens when, as a company, you seem to have infringement-on-the-brain, and think anything and everything must absolutely be framed within the context of whether or not something is infringing.
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Filed Under: kim jong un, licensing, moranbong, north korea
Companies: disney
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The rest of the story.
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Also, they're dictators. They have the say whether any use of a charater is infingement under the law.
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Two dictatorships battle for control of the Mouse!
Who will win?
Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind seeing Disney send a few planeloads of lawyers over there...
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HEY!! WTF Do you have permission to say that?
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Absolutely unforgivable that you missed linking copyright infringement and communism in a story about both. Also, since North Korea wants nuclear weapons, and we all know that terrorists want nuclear weapons, there was that angle too. And even though both of your "sentences" were fragments, you capitalized one of them, and they were coherent.
Complete failing grade.
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Ummm....
They should probably stfu.
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Re: Ummm....
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Even if they were copyrighted by the Grimm Brothers, it would have definitely been public domain.
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Re: Re: Re: Ummm....
Just because Disney has better lawyers, doesn't mean it's Disney's fault that the Brothers Grimm allowed their copyrights to expire at the appointed time.
If they were any kind of businessmen, they would have been able to give their descendents a livelihood for generations.
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Missing the point
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Would have been funnier
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Re: Would have been funnier
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Duhhh
Their use was undoubtedly authorised by Kim Jong Un or someone in his government - and in North Korea that is all that matters.
Has Disney not noticed that North Korea is a sovereign state that has not signed up for any international intellectual property obligations and that Disney therefore has no "rights" there to be infringed!
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I'd prefer to speculate about the actions that N. Korea might take against Disney...
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p.s. Don't give them any ideas!
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Overreacting on this news
All I can see from the article, is a company trying hard to distance itself from negative publicity. Authorizing a copyrighted work (whether that's required or not) isn't just about the copyright itself, it also gives implicit approval of the derivative work.
I don't believe Disney was after a copyright claim here, and (as much as I despise the company itself), have to say that this statement is the minimum I'd expect from them, as well as the maximum - Implicit approval of the North Korean regime is not something any corporation would want on its resume.
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Re: Overreacting on this news
That's actually the point. It should be blindingly obvious that NK doesn't licence anything officially, let alone anything from major Western corporations. That Disney not only feel they have to announce this, but do so on the basis of a random gossip article about something else (i.e. nobody has accused them of having licensed the works) indicates how farcical this whole thing has become.
"Implicit approval of the North Korean regime is not something any corporation would want on its resume."
I dare say Disney have worse on it already.
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Re: Overreacting on this news
Let's see Disney sue North Korea!
Otherwise, it shows the Mouse is impotent!
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Re: Overreacting on this news
It makes everybody mad though because you used the word piracy!
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Awesome! I knew I needed a reason not to buy from them! Watching idiots like you fail is reason enough. Time to ensure my money goes elsewhere, I wouldn't want the likes of you getting richer when there's so many more deserving recipients.
"Congrats on being the internet's biggest douchebag!"
No, I think your trophy's safe.
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Re: Re: Overreacting on this news
So you whining over a bitching whining over a whiny bitch... that makes you three times the whiny bitch!
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Re: Overreacting on this news
My guess -- Zero.
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Re: Overreacting on this news
They didn't say "we disapprove of and do not support his regime," would would have spoken to an ethical objection, they say "we did not authorize the use of our works," which is a legal objection that says nothing about how Disney feels about the regime.
What it literally indicates is that Disney's primary concern is the control over their "intellectual property", not that they don't want to be seen with the like of the Un.
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Re: Overreacting on this news
It is also newsworthy as the performance would be against North Korean law as well (and get the average citizen sent to a labour camp for a decade or more).
This has NOTHING to do with copyright.
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OMG, North Korea's government is infringing on Disney's IP, they must be terrible people, we should invade them for the crime! I would have never guessed this if Disney hadn't pointed out the crime!
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Can war be averted?
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Simple solution
I'm pretty sure Kim Jong Un will have a reasonable response prepared for them.
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Re: Simple solution
"Let us look around, so we can ease Disney's collective mind.
We'm sorry, but Disney must be firm with you.
Let us in, or else."
"Or else...what?"
"Or else we will be very angry with you...and we will write you a letter, telling you how angry we are."
"OK, I'll show you.
Stand to your reft."
Lawyers move to their reft, I mean left.
"A rittle more."
Lawyers move a little more.
"Good"
Kim Jong Un pulls switch, lawyers become shark food.
Everyone wins.
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About reading I just took a look at DSLreports and found this news:
Aereo win first round: injunction denied [paidcontent.org]
Study: slow and unreliable broadband affecting London’s economy [techworld.com] (And people say the interwebz is not valuable)
Government Officials Warn of Wireless Patent Wars [cio.com] (Warning is different from doing something about it)
Android rules U.S. and Europe smartphone sales [cnet.com]
How Amazon’s ambitious new push for same-day delivery will destroy local retail [slate.com]
UK Web snooping bill an 'odious shopping list of new gov powers' [theregister.co.uk]
Viacom Yanks Free TV Shows From Web Amid DirecTV Impasse [multichannel.com] (Oh this will be good)
Lawmakers Accuse FCC of Hypocrisy on Internet Regulation [cio.com]
The piracy pitfalls of offering public Wi-Fi [itpro.co.uk]
Who’s afraid of Google fiber? Time Warner for starters [gigaom.com] (See what happens when you poke a bear?)
Netflix's lost year: The inside story of the price-hike train wreck [cnet.com] (The industry apparently will get what they want, the end of Netflix and with it the end of profits LoL)
On TorrentFreak:
Censoring The Pirate Bay is Futile, ISPs Reveal
So long for the wet dreams of the MAFIAA.
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This demonstrates why
They also need a very fat pipe to the internet so that their computers can gobble down torrents of western content for comparative study.
Disney wants us to cheer WIPO recently giving North Korea computers in violation of sanctions.
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We Todd Did...
1. So it doesn't get inundated by requests for the REAL Disney company to put on the same show that was put on in Korea.
2. So Disney is not recognized as supporting a Dictatorship that has its populace rotting in poverty and hunger.
Poor choice of words by Disney... yes.
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Calm down people
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Re: Calm down people
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Typical statement.
I'm a little disappointed. You make it sound like Disney is threatening Kim John Un for the illegal use of Disney characters. Now, if I'm wrong, and this is a real legal threat; then yes, Disney is jumping the "MUCH PROTECT IP" gun before realizing China doesn't care about US IP.
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Re: Typical statement.
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They buried the lead.
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Re: They buried the lead.
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Re: They buried the lead.
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It's time nuke North Korea!
A country can meddle in the affairs of any country they don't like - the United States proved that!
A country can topple any government they don't like - the United States proved that!
A country can freely murder whomever they bloody well feel like - the United States proved that!
A country can drop nuclear bombs on whomever they feel like and kill thousands and thousands of innocent people - the United States proved that!
A country can declare war on and destroy any country just minding their own business (especially if they threatened the us president's daddy) and get away with it - the United States proved that!
A country can commit any war crimes it wants and get away with it - the United States proved that!
A country can ignore international law when they bloody well feel like it - the United States proved that!
But flaunt american national so-called "laws" designed to make filthy rich people filthy richer and bought and paid for by those that help finance the american presidential campaign in a us election year? Cleanly, North Korea is evil and must be destroyed!!
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Re: It's time nuke North Korea!
/some haiti video slideshow thing
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The Revolution Will Be Televised
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Far as the people of North Korea know Kim Jong Un created Disney.
Don't you know?.. Dear leader is creator of everything rofl.
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Oh, NOW they've done it
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be corrupted by the values of Communism. Haha.
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