By Leo Usselman
Intellectual property refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions, trademarks, and copyrights, that are protected by law.
Certain pieces of intellectual property have recently been taken off of copyright, and are free to use by anyone in the public. From Winnie The Pooh to All Quiet on the Western Front, intellectual property rights can be given to everyone who wishes to use them, and this can come with many good and bad things.
Having access to these properties branches out many opportunities for people to expand the current state of the media that is made public. When a certain thing is under copyright, it is very difficult to create something inspired by it without it being struck.\
Expanding on that, many content creators could use clips or pictures from the intellectual property and lose the opportunity to make money or even create videos on that subject.
A notable example of this is Nintendo. Nintendo is very well known for being extremely harsh on content creators taking clips from their games or the music from the games. One Twitch streamer played a new Nintendo game on Twitch when he wasn’t supposed to and had one viewer. That viewer happened to be Nintendo, and they decided to sue him for seven million dollars.
When new media is made public without copyright, it opens up the opportunity for many people’s jobs (such as content creators) to thrive further. In fact, there are many instances when media has gone from public domain to copyrighted, and people have gotten very upset.
A major example of this is on May 2nd, 2024, when music on TikTok became copyrighted and even banned over unfair compensation for Universal artists. Many creators who were making money and videos were forced to use sounds that they did not want to use. TikTok experienced significant backlash for this. TikTok did not shift after this backlash.
That being said, public access to other people’s works can be beneficial, but in many scenarios, isn’t. Original creators and/or copyright holders have their own personal rights as well. There are instances where a musical artist creates music, and someone else could upload the same song and make even more money than the original creator. Some people who create want the pride of others knowing that they were the person who created it. When other people take their creation and make it more public, the general population seems to drift away from the person who made it and make it seem like their own. This is widely seen on TikTok with something known as “Remix Culture,” where creators simply take another person’s content and make it their own.
Another notable example is when HBO, the owners of Game of Thrones, sent cease-and-desist letters to people creating their own fanfiction based on the media in 2017. A person’s success could often depend on their ability to create, and it has been like that for thousands of years. Copyright allows a person to make something of their own without someone stealing their creativity.
Creations aren’t always for someone’s own pride, however. In 2025, All Quiet on the Western Front will become public domain. While this is a fantastic creation, it’s also a good informational source that spreads awareness of what war is like. Ultimately, everything about intellectual property entirely relies on context. Every single person deserves the right to copyright, even though it can be controversial and an annoyance to certain people’s careers.
Copyright allows artists to be protected from theft and ensures control over and profit from their work.
The future of intellectual property rights remains the same as it always has been. While it remains a debate for many people, everyone is entitled to their own works without other people stealing it.
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