IANAL, but in that case can I make an animated film about Cinderella? The story is in the public domain, but Disney have recent films.
By making a Cinderella film did Disney gained the right to block subsequent works based on it?
Nope, you can still make a Cinderella film. The tricky bit is to make sure that all your visual and story inspirations for the movie comes only from the 'original' sources (Grim, Lang etc.) and nothing the Disney movie.
See the regular launching of "Sherlock" shows, and the multiple on-air concurrently.
Edit: Though Sherlock does have some limitations. Elements of the Sherlock stories introduced after 1922 are still copyrighted, but things from the vast majority of Doyle's stories are public domain and usable by anyone.
Yes you can, no they didn't. But you probably could not afford the onslaught on legal action Disney would hit you with. For them the cost is well worth scaring off competition and quashing belief that culture is free or producible by anyone other than big media company.
Yes, as long as you don't copy anything that Disney added to it, or infringe on any of Disney's trademarks.
There's actually companies who create "Mockbusters" - movies with similar titles to the latest hits, to con people into buying them. They tend to walk a fine line, but they do OK (although they piss off a lot of customers).
I seem to recall there being an R-rated movie called "Pirates" at the same time as and with a cover that looked remarkably similar to that of "Pirates of the Caribbean." I never watched it, but IIRC the cover was confusing enough that Blockbuster had to put "Contains content not suitable for children" stickers on it.
I consider this practice just as unethical as hosting adult content on squatted domain misspellings of common sites.
There was a porn version called "Pirates", but porn versions are satire, not mockbusters. And yes, there were a few confused purchases, but it was much higher budget than most mockbuster. I think there actually mockbuster versions of Pirates (cheap porn, posing as expensive porn, which was itself a "satire" of a Disney movie).
Most mockbusters are made by 1-5 young animators, and they do the scripts and voice acting themselves. Pirates was notable for being one of the most expensive pieces of porn ever made (since it a real boat).
