Gamedev Willie

January 1, 2024 6:18 PM

By the time works resumed passing into the public domain in the US in 2019, countless people had grown up believing nothing would ever do so again. Techdirt invented a unique solution: an annual game jam in which all entries must include material from at least on newly public-domain work. The sixth has just begun - Gaming Like It's 1928! (Itch page. Pages for previous jams including submissions: 1927, 1926, 1925, 1924, 1923. Previously on Techdirt (including winner announcements and spotlights), Metafilter. Recent MeFi post on newly PD works.)

Thanks to the Music modernization Act,, the passage of recordings into the public domain is no longer handled by state law. However, thanks to the nature of the recording industry, the law is more restrictive than with other works - this footnote from the Duke article on new public domain entries (one of Techdirt's two go-tos - the other being Copyright Lately's) sums it up. Note that this only applies to recordings, not compositions; new renditions of 1928 songs are permitted.

posted by BiggerJ (3 comments total)

Man, I have seen Mickey Mouse do some depraved shit in the last 24 hours.
posted by Artw at 6:27 PM on January 1 [10 favorites]

I was about to say 'just let them get it out of their system', but then I remembered this Simpsons scene.
posted by BiggerJ at 6:46 PM on January 1 [2 favorites]

For the record, I will not be drawing Mickey Mouse's penis. Imo, the only appeal his penis had was the allure of illegality
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:39 AM on January 3 [1 favorite]