Mickey and North Korea

Thanks to Gene for sending me this article  from Slate magazine about North Korea's use of unlicensed Disney character costumes.  The article explores whether Disney can stop the DPRK from doing this.  Short answer - not likely.  The article also mentions that Disney may have been lucky not to lose the rights to Steamboat Willie due to a technical interpretation of the copyright.

...A 2001 North Korean law prohibits infringement of foreign-owned copyrights, but the law is useless to Disney because there is no international court to hear intellectual property disputes between private parties. Since U.S. courts lack jurisdiction over the Moranbong band—the group whose concert involved the misappropriation Mickey’s likeness—the company would have to sue them inside the hermit kingdom. Disney isn’t going to prosecute such a suit, because the country is notoriously unfriendly to such claims, and trade restrictions prevent the company from hiring or sending attorneys.

In a discussion of the technicalities of the copyright law, and why Disney's copyright of Steamboat Willie could have been challenged,  the article explains why Disney might well have lost their exclusive rights to the characters in the 1920's.  But that probably wouldn't happen today.

Modern judges are reluctant to make sweeping rulings based on such legal technicalities, however, especially when the results would cost one of the world’s largest corporations approximately $3 billion, so it’s probably unwise to challenge the Mickey Mouse copyright.