[Foundation-l] Public domain Mickey Mouse. At last.

[Anthony]

On Sat, Oct 22, 2011 at 8:13 PM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 23 October 2011 00:19, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> I am *amazed* that it took a whole month for someone to mention it on
>> [[:en:Talk:Mickey Mouse]], and another half an hour before someone
>> (me) replaced the image in the article itself ...
>
>
> And I've just done a version without the text or flag:
>
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Appreciate_America._Come_On_Gang._All_Out_for_Uncle_Sam%22_%28Mickey_Mouse%29%22_-_NARA_-_513869_-_cropped_and_tidied.png
>
> Is this the very first ever derivative image of Mickey Mouse not in
> any manner approved of by the Walt Disney company but that is,
> nevertheless, 100% absolutely legal?
>
> BTW - the Commons deletion discussion that included a renewal search:
>
> http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Deletion_requests/File:%22Appreciate_America._Come_On_Gang._All_Out_for_Uncle_Sam%22_%28Mickey_Mouse%29%22_-_NARA_-_513869.tif

On what grounds is it out of copyright?  Doesn't a derivative work
carry (at least) two copyrights, the one on the original work, and the
one on the derivative (which "extends only to the material contributed
by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting
material employed in the work")?