NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] How to Steal Your Way to #1 In the Copyright Wars
How to Steal Your Way to #1 In the Copyright Wars
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000896.html
A seemingly innocuous showbiz headline flashed on my screen today. It
noted that Disney's 1994 animated blockbuster "The Lion King" was
number one in the U.S. box office for a second week, even though it's
a reissue!
Lion King is one of the top grossing films of all time -- and
reportedly the highest grossing of all hand-drawn animated films.
Needless to say, the Lion King movie itself -- and its vast array of
merchandising and spin-offs -- have been a gold mine for Disney, and
you can be sure that anyone Disney has found to be ripping off the
franchise -- as in illegal copies flowing around the Internet -- could
find themselves subject to a full range of civil and criminal
sanctions. Under the PROTECT IP Act being pushed through Congress,
the ramifications for Lion King thievery would be even more severe.
But there's something particularly interesting about Disney's Lion
King, that makes it a fascinating example of how media power itself
can be used in dishonest ways.
Because almost certainly, Lion King -- the franchise, the film and all
that flows from them -- is itself purloined, stolen, ripped-off.
Fans of 1960s Japanese "Anime" realized this almost immediately when
Lion King was released 17 years ago.
Though Disney has always denied it and claimed coincidence, characters
and plot elements from Lion King were obviously lifted from "Jungle
Emperor" ("Jungle Taitei") -- known in the U.S. as "Kimba the White
Lion."
The degree of parallels is nothing short of remarkable -- and far
outside the realm of any conceivable coincidence in a rational
analysis.
A number of YouTube videos have even explored this controversy in
detail, illustrating the intellectual property theft from Kimba scene
by scene. Two good examples are: "The Lion King - Homage or
Stealing" ( http://j.mp/nOyNI5 ) and "Lion King - An Overview on Kimba
and Interesting Facts" ( http://j.mp/pAkU3n ).
Watch them for yourselves. See what you think.
The fate of the Western World no doubt doesn't rest on the vast sums
(reportedly approaching a billion dollars) that Lion King the film has
fed into Disney's coffers.
But for those of us concerned about intellectual property issues, and
in particular the apparent desires of some in the media empires to
remake the Internet "in their own image," Kimba vs. Lion King is a
fascinating case.
Some in the entertainment empires are pushing Congress to create vast
new classes of "casual copying criminals" -- while also demanding
technological changes to core Internet technologies that are affronts
to Net security and stability -- and to civil rights as well.
I have friends in the movie and other entertainment industries here in
L.A. who are hard workers, and they're understandably concerned about
their futures in an age of rapid Internet-induced technology changes.
But this doesn't excuse the fact that some leaders of the
entertainment empires are pushing Congress to create vast new classes
of "casual copying criminals" -- while pushing for technological
changes to core Internet technologies that are affronts to Net
security and stability -- and to civil rights as well.
These corporate media moguls are always ready and willing to declare
Internet users to be crooks and thieves who should be massively fined
and in some cases even imprisoned. In so many of these cases, the
punishments being deployed are massively far too serious -- far out of
scale -- for the offenses involved.
And while clearly there are some serious intellectual property crooks
out there, who truly do deserve significant sanctions, it seems only
fair to note that when it comes to making crime pay, there are cases
where the media giants themselves make everyone else look like rank
amateurs.
Kimba, at least, certainly deserved better.
[ Kimba Japanese opening (1965): http://j.mp/p3hWRU (YouTube) ]
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren@vortex.com): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance: http://www.gctip.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://vortex.com/g+lauren
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com