All Episodes

February 20, 2025 • 54 mins

Uh oh! We've blown through our licensing budget pretty fast, so we had to improvise. Join Aidan as he takes Mitch, Hugh, and special guest Mac on a royalty-free journey all about the public domain!

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Welcome aboard the Premier MotorCoach.
We're on our way to Smallville, OH.
Oh producers tell me that's copyrighted.
Shit, small town. Oh, producers tell me that's
also copyrighted. I guess we're on our way to
generic small city in the USA and we've got some time to

(00:25):
dispose of. Let's answer some questions.
Contestants, please introduce yourselves.
Hi, I'm Hugh. Let's go, girls.
Hi, I'm Mack. And I'm Mitch.
Nice. Well welcome everybody to

(00:45):
another episode of Premier MotorCoach.
I'm. So excited.
Any guesses? Premier motor coach.
Is it like? Synonyms.
It's close. That's a good guess.
But not. Superheroes.
Thank you. This is.
Just off brand, off brand things.
That's closer, Hugh. The topic today is the public

(01:07):
domain. Today we'll be talking about all
things free use and public domain.
That's as you may or may not have noticed from the intro, we
have spent all of our budget on licensing for our previous
topics. So much so that they have told
me that not only can I not license other things, I can't
even license the name. Bleep that out.

(01:30):
So today we're on the premier motor coach and we will be
talking about all things public domain.
Now here are the guidelines, notrules guidelines for the
episode. No Internet searching.
So if you're John and you want to search on the Internet, don't
do that, brains. Only the Internet is a proper
noun though, no? Fuck.
You should have said interwebs. I'm going to get cancelled.

(01:52):
No World Wide Web search is thatit's World Wide Web.
I don't know domain search things.
Brain knowledge only. There will be 3 sections this
game with 15 questions each. Section 1, there's five
questions worth 1 unit of correctness per correct answer.
Section 2, two units per corrector two units of correctness per

(02:14):
correct answer. And Section 3, you will gain 3
units of correctness per correctanswer, which was copyrighted.
Who knows? We will be using an alert system
to Alert me whenever someone hasthe answer.
And then of course, everyone's familiar with the Big lie.
Once per game, I'm going to lie to you in a big way on one of

(02:37):
the questions. Every player will have one
opportunity need to accuse me ofthe big lie.
If you guess correctly as to what the fake answer was, you
will be awarded 3 units of correctness.
If you incorrectly accuse me, then you are awarded 3 units of
falseness, which equates to -3 units of correctness.

(03:00):
I sorry this is just so funny tome.
The players may accuse me of thesame lie and the most correct
contestant will win. And Cameron's.
Cameron's here. I got it to work would.
You like to play trivia with us today?

(03:23):
Hi. Everyone.
Sorry, nice to see you. See you next time.
Bye, Cameron. Well, that was a little
interruption. What's?
Up. I really hope that stays in.
That's awesome, but. Yeah, it's not in the budget to
take out. The most correct contestant will
take home the crown of victory this episode.
So the the non specific crown ofvictory.

(03:47):
So you guys ready? Are you guys ready to compete to
answer some questions? I am prepared.
I'm ready to alert you. Thank you.
Thank you. All right.
Starting out with Section 1. This one's all about copyrights
and the public domain. So we're going to get a little
bit into a little more of the law stuff, the regulation stuff,
and then we'll we'll get into the more fun stuff a little

(04:08):
later. Not to say that this isn't fun,
but we're going to start with question.
What I didn't? Say yeah, Question one,
questions. We're good.
We're good with questions. A work has entered the public
domain if it is not under any intellectual property
protection. The duration of these
protections, especially copyright, has changed a lot
over the years, with many companies lobbying to extend

(04:31):
protections of their IP. Disney.
If a work was. Published today, however, and
copyrighted. When would it enter the public
domain? No.
Are you kidding me? Mac.
In 100 years. In 100 years, yeah.
OK, From today I have to make a slight amendment.

(04:52):
I want these answers in the formof the life of the author plus a
certain amount of years. So yes, would you like to the
author plus? I'm so happy you sent that plus.
12 years. Plus 12 years.
Life of the author plus 12 years.
I'm paying niche. I have no idea how to form it
that way. What's the average, let's say
life of the author plus 10 years?
OK. And Hugh, I'll.

(05:14):
Do life of the author plus five years.
All right, Mac, you will get that the correct answer is Life
of the Author plus 70. Years.
Wow, so you. Get copyright protection for
your entire lifetime. It is still your work as you
live, but after it expires, It used to be very small, but
that's where these corporations have kind of pushed and pushed
and pushed. And now it is 70 years since

(05:36):
1978. I think that's been the case.
I. Thought the answer was 100 too.
Where does 100 come from? So for corporate works, it's 95
years from publication or 120 from creation, whichever comes
first. OK, so as of right now, pretty
much anything pre 1930 is the public domain, just so you guys
know. OK, so it's pretty, pretty
interesting stuff. Mac gets the first points and

(05:59):
also Mac I just do the. First point I'll.
Get a unit of current. I'm gonna get cancelled.
The first units of correctness will go to contestant Mac.
Wait, So what? What if the owner or the creator
has been cryogenically frozen? You know, you bring you bring in
a very interesting legal argument.
Are they dead while they're frozen?

(06:20):
And then when they're reanimated, I think the work is
taken out of the public domain, which is something that's
happened before when they've been.
One person they've been able to sustain life in cryogenically.
Sorry if you cough. Actually, it like completely
wipes away any kind of legal trouble point.
I learned that, Richard. Yeah, exactly.

(06:42):
Yeah. I do want to take this time to
say welcome Mac. This is Mac's first episode.
I didn't say Mac. Thank you, Mac.
We're very excited to have you. Correctness.
And 1st unit of correctness that's so long.
Grats. Let's jealous.
No point? No.
Points No. Points.
Let's move on to question 2. While the public domain is most
often associated with copyright,inventions can become public

(07:05):
after their patent has been expired.
Which of these famous inventionswas never patented?
The light bulb? The iPhone, Coca-Cola or GPS.
The Global Positioning System, Mitch.
This might be a trick answer, but I'm going to say GPS.
Mitch that it is incorrect or false.
The GPS was patented in 1974 by Easton.

(07:29):
Wow. He was working for the Navy at
the time. I knew it was a trick question.
Mac. I'm going to ask Coca-Cola.
Coca-Cola is correct, that is. Real you need a.
Correctness to you. That makes sense, So.
Here's the fun thing. Pemberton.
It's a trade secret, right? It's.
Exactly, exactly correct. So Coke is never patented.
It instead uses the trade secretmethod for its formula because

(07:51):
patents expire 20 years after filing.
So if Coca-Cola were to patent its formula 20 years later, that
formula would be free use for the general public.
So they have maintained their formula by keeping it secret,
not necessarily protecting it. Oh, my God.
I will say, I will say I learnedthis recently and it's that
apparently there is no secret. Like they like to say that

(08:13):
there's a secret ingredient to Coke.
There's technically no secret ingredient to Coke.
They just like to say that like,it was like a marketing thing.
I don't know. I remember reading that
somewhere. Yeah.
The light bulb was patented in 1878 by Thomas Edison and then
the iPhone. The patent is held by Apple.
It was patented in 2008, so starting 2028 iPhone knockoffs
babies. No.
Well, if not the original 1, the.

(08:35):
Original 1. The trademarks still apply.
There's a lot of weird things like with.
Trademark. Versus patent you?
Know I want the iPhone 5C to come back like in 20 what 2033
or whatever that is. Yes, 2033 we can make the.
IPhone 5C Again, moving on to question 3, some works can be
ineligible for copyright protection and are therefore

(08:58):
public domain by default. Which of the following types of
works are not public domain automatically in the US?
So I'm going to give you 3 worksthat are automatically public
domain and one is not. Find the Find the imposter.
Wait, is it posture? Copyright from the main poster
from among. US.
Oh no. Anyway, the the.

(09:20):
Works are mathematical formulas,cooking recipes, official
government works, or anything without an explicit copyright.
And this is in the. US, Mitch.
I'm gonna say recipes. Mitch says incorrect.
Oh Dang it, I'm doing horrible today.
One unit of nothing to you. OK.
Them again, please. Yes, of course.

(09:40):
Mathematical formulas, cooking recipes, official government
works, or anything without an explicit copyright Mathematical
formulas is also incorrect. Back down to the 5050.
Wow, I guess government works can't be copyrighted that.
Makes sense The the the questionis which of the following is the
exception? So one of these can be

(10:01):
copyrighted. Can be copyrighted.
Anything without explicit copyright.
I think that can be copyrighted,right?
Can you just make one up? Or I guess I phrased that
incorrectly, but that is correctback.
It is that. One Dang, basically anything
without an explicit copyright isnot automatically public domain
because you get copyright by default if you create a work.

(10:22):
So you do have to file for it ifyou want like actual legal
protection. But like when you create
something you own the copyright to that you actually have to
file a document that declares your intent to waive copyright
if you want your work to be in the public domain.
So that's kind of a tricky interesting.
It's an opt out system. It's an opt out system exactly
to keep people from getting scammed.

(10:44):
Facts, ideas, single words and phrases.
Those cannot be copyrighted. So stuff like mathematical
formula. Which is literally just.
A fact of life is automatically public domain because you cannot
hold intellectual property on math.
Recipes. Really.
Recipes are the same thing because it's just a set of
ingredients that you combine them.
That's kind of a fact. But with math formulas and

(11:07):
recipes, you can kind of add enough creative expression to
get around it sometimes. So that's why you'll see, like,
cookbooks or blog posts will embellish with a lot of
description or personal anecdotes so that they can
copyright that material. And math textbooks can be
copyrighted because of world problems and stuff like that.
Yeah. You're telling me that the
reason why you have to jump to recipe every time is for

(11:28):
copyright? It is for.
It is for copyright protection. I know, right?
It's annoying. And then official government
works in the US or public domainby default so that everybody
knows what's going on in sense. That's really interesting.
Yeah. Mac, that is one unit of
correctness. You are.
Killing it man. Hey.
First round, first beginners. Well, but you.

(11:49):
Know units. Beginner's Fortune.
Begin there we. Go first.
Timer's fortune, that sounds like.
Somebody. Copied like that.
That sounds like you could be like a Chinese restaurant.
Here you got to start that when you get rich with all your
iPhone 5 c.com. All right question. 4.

(12:16):
To determine if intellectual property is protected, we often
denote it with a small mark to indicate the type of protection.
So the little C for copyright, the R for registered trademark,
the TM for trademark, right. I'm wanting you guys to do a
little bit of art. So we're going to draw the
symbol that denotes a work as inthe public domain.
The best depiction is going to win the points kind of Charlie

(12:37):
Chaplin art rules. So I'll give you a little bit of
time to to work your artistic magic and I want to see the
symbol that denotes a work as the public domain or as in the.
Public so. So you're rewarding it if it's
right, but if it's wrong then you will go off.
If it's wrong and funny then I could be swayed.
OK, what's playing in my mind, which I know is not right, is

(12:59):
like the last screen that you see at the end of movie credits.
Yeah, yeah, I don't. And I'm like none of those
symbols are going to be in no because.
It's. Not good.
Right. I got it, got it.
I've got a couple of arrows to it.
So who would like to start? I'll go.
Mine is probably the simplest, but it's like the good ol just
AD. It's a domain, just in the

(13:19):
domain. Just just.
Domain in it. Just domain.
Yep. OK Mac, do you wanna go next?
Mine is similar. Actually mine is the P in the
circle, but I figured that was probably not it.
So I figured like a person for, you know, the public owns.
Public. I like that A.
Lot. It's definitely shorthand for

(13:41):
you, the 1st. Figure All right, I'm not saying
that I am a pirate. Okay, legally speaking, I'm not
saying that right that I am a pirate.
But I do happen to know this symbol, at least I'm pretty
sure. Okay.
Mitch, that yeah, you got it spot on, right?
This is to remember. This is to remember the units of

(14:02):
correctness. There.
There you go. So Mitch, that is one unit of
correctness to you for that public domain symbol.
It is the copyright symbol combined with the international
symbol for no, which is circle with the line through it.
So that is exactly what it is. However, that being said, I do
love both of your guys's depictions especially.
I'm going to start drawing little stick figures coming out

(14:24):
of the copyright symbol on. So there you go.
Oh, that symbol was created by Creative Commons.
So if you guys have heard of Creative Commons, they kind of
deal with a lot of this intellectual property licensing
thing and they recommend that you only use that on works that
are public domain internationally because
different countries have different legs, the public
domain. And that is a great segue into

(14:45):
our next question, Question 5. While the US offers a copyright
term of the life of the author plus 70 years, other countries
around the world have their own systems which can make
determining international publicdomain status just a little
murky. Rank the following countries in
terms of length of copyright, all in the life of the author,
plus year. Here we go.

(15:05):
OK, so here we go. Your countries are Switzerland,
Mexico, North Korea and India. I'll give you 30 seconds or so.
Hugh is already on. It just based off of vibes.
I think it's the. I'll explain it.
But I won't I'll. Explain my reasoning so it's the

(15:27):
exact opposite that you just said it and so interesting.
Sorry, that's a lie. Sorry.
The big, big lie. You know this was a small lie,
not to be confused with the Big Lie.
OK, sorry. I I first, the shortest is going
to be North Korea. OK, that information belongs to

(15:48):
everyone. And then next is India.
I don't know, it feels like they'd be fine with sharing
stuff. Yeah.
Mexico is like, you know, they're next to the US, so
they're probably pretty good about it.
And then Switzerland is like super strict about it, like you
own it. That's my rationale.
I will not hear you're so right though.
With bitch. I have something different.
I have something different. So I was thinking #1 like being

(16:13):
like the longest term is actually I put India, OK #2
Mexico, OK #3 Switzerland, and then #4 North Korea.
So you and I agree on the number4.
Of North Korea Mac, do you have?AI wish I would have thought
about that. I really do wish I thought it
was really different. They could.
Throw you a loop though. They could, they might, they

(16:34):
might. So no, I did.
I put very. Real like you based on vibes.
I did Mexico as least and then Switzerland, India and then
North Korea as most because I thought I don't know.
Hey Mac, you did the exact opposite order that's.
Super cool. The correct answer is Mexico's
the most. With 100 life of the author plus

(16:56):
100 years, pretty impressive. Switzerland is exact same as the
US life of the author plus 70. As with a bunch of other Western
countries in general, India is the life of the author plus 60
years, a little bit less. And North Korea is the life of
the author plus 50 years, which is still a lot, but that is the
minimum. According to the Bern

(17:16):
Convention, which is basically abunch of authors got together
back in time. We're like, this is the minimum
that you should do to protect people's intellectual property,
and then you can do any more if you want.
You. How close were you?
I switched the top 2. So I I'm gonna get.
That to you say, I think the app, I think Q was the closest,

(17:37):
so he's also. Unit of correctness.
To you pretty close. But yeah.
Very interesting, I I had the exact same thought of like North
Korea. Like I feel like they don't even
have the concept. Exactly like the government owns
it. They follow the Bern convention
which is pretty cool. Most.
Countries. On paper or on paper?
On paper. Yeah, exactly.
Don't come from me, North Korea,North Korea.

(17:58):
Is not listening to this podcast.
Yeah, exactly. Can we get a correctness check
from you guys from here at the end of round one?
I have one unit of correctness. OK.
Oh. I have 3 units of correctness.
All right, I have one unit of correctness.
Hey, it's anybody's game. It's anybody's question
answering game. I don't think I could say
trivia, right? Like that hat that's in the name

(18:20):
of, yeah, I mean, known as. Exactly.
And now to a question for our listeners.
The audience question. Hello everybody.
That's me, Mickey Mouse. I'm finally free of Walt
Disney's clutches. If they ever want me back,
they're going to have to unfreeze his head.

(18:41):
I think it's hidden under DisneyWorld.
Anyway, I've been learning a lotever since I got out.
Shout out to Cheesy Steak 31 forletting me know that without a
space suit, I'd asphyxiate. Before anything else, here's one
audience point to you, Cheesy Steak.
Oh boy. Anyway, I want to learn
something else. Did you know that I was supposed
to be out way earlier than I was?

(19:04):
What year did Congress most recently pass a law extending
copyright protection? Keeping me locked away again?
What year did Congress most recently pass a law extending
copyright protection? If you know, make sure to submit
your answer in the comments under the episode or under the
Instagram post to bust one Trivia because I want answers

(19:25):
and I'm going to get them. Hi, everybody.
And we're back. Welcome back everybody.
I hope you enjoyed that listeneronly question.
It is listener only because. None of us.
Heard it. So we just had a little peek
behind the curtain. We just did the smash cut.
I bet you didn't see that one coming.
Anyway, we're moving on to round.

(19:46):
Two category or the the kind of theme for Round 2 is recent
public domain entries. So these are all things that
have recently come into the public domain.
So a little more pop culture here.
OK, Question six. US copyright law distinguished.
Pushes between musical compositions and actual sound
recordings, which can make the public domain status of certain

(20:06):
songs a little fuzzy as the sheet music is for use while a
famous recording might not be. So you can't just say this song
is public domain, It's the it's the composition itself.
Right? Because copyright comes into
effect when you fix something ina medium.
But which of the following musical compositions is not
entering the public domain in 2025?

(20:27):
So I have 3 compositions that are entering the public domain
as of this year. That one is not.
Tell me which one is not. So here we go.
A Singing in the rain, B embraceable UC.
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.
And D Stardust. Bitch, it don't mean a thing if
it ain't got that swing because wasn't that in like a isn't

(20:48):
that, wasn't that in like a newer song already?
So it's probably already in the public domain.
Mitch that is incorrect. Oh, Duke Ellington's discography
has entered the public domain. So that's that's a famous.
Duke and how do they do away or how they do the the that like
poppy version, the club version public domain.
Something and and like sampling.OK.

(21:10):
Right. Or a derivative work is a little
bit different, yeah. That's fair.
That's like that one song that uses the crap, I just forgot it.
You know that one song? That ice, ice baby and under
pressure. They say thank you.
A lot of songs sample, a lot of covers are covered under that
derivative work stuff, right? Fair enough.

(21:31):
Intellectual property law is dense and bad, and I hope our
listeners didn't tune out after the entire first round.
Of intellectual property law. Hey, if you're still here,
thanks. I appreciate it.
Yeah. Anyway, Hugh, that was log
detour. I'm going to go with embraceable
you. In Q.
That is correct. Wow.
Embraceable You is not entering the public domain.

(21:52):
All of George Gershwin's works are entering in 2025.
However, the works that George wrote with Ira Gershwin are not
because she died later, so. Embraceable you was a.
George and Ira, but like an American in Paris, which was
George Gershwin that is enteringin 2025, which is really
interesting. Exactly what I thought, yeah.
That's exactly and you you get 2.

(22:14):
Whole units of correctness for that answer.
Wow. But Singing in the Rain, the
original score of that is entering and then Stardust,
technically the original composition already entered, but
the composition with the words added by Michael Parrish is
entering in 25 and that's kind of the more common 1, so.
I always forget that Stardust was like just the music 1st and
then they added words to it. OK, car, Michael.

(22:35):
Yeah, Indiana. I don't care about why are we.
Yeah. I think I've mentioned that
before. Anyway, that's for all.
Indiana is copyrighted. No, it's a government.
It's an official government work.
Please reference back Anyway, Yeah, that's.
It's just W Ohio. Anyway, question 7.

(23:01):
West, West, West Virginia, if you want to get going now, we're
going. So what's California?
Super W West. West WWWWW.
West. West, WW.
West. West everything is technically
West of West Virginia when you really.
Think about it, even Virginia isjust WWWWWWWWWWWWW West
Virginia. Someone check a map and tell me

(23:23):
how many Wests that. Is, yeah.
Thank you, Thank you. Thank.
You the comments below. Yeah, tell us how many that is
now. You're answered the listener
question as well as how many Wests Virginia is anyway.
What do you count? Like the oceans?
Nothing. I don't know.
Oh, yeah. What?
I mean, you know what? This isn't the West Virginia
episode. So there we go, Question 7 next

(23:44):
week next. Week The public domain had a big
get last year when the copyrightfor the animated short Steamboat
Willie expired and we were givenfree.
Unchained access to Mickey Mouse.
Not actually, though, because this version of Mickey isn't
exactly the one we know today. Which Mickey Mythos staple was

(24:06):
added after Steamboat Lily and is still under copyright by
Disney? A.
His squeaky voice B. His tail.
C Minnie Mouse or D The name Mickey Mouse which of the
following It was added after Steamboat Willie and therefore
is still under copyright by Disney You.

(24:27):
I'm going Mickey Mouse the name.You that is incorrect.
Mickey Mouse was Mickey Mouse inSteamboat Willie.
Full name Mitch I'm. Going to go with Minnie Mouse,
my girl. Mitch, that is also incorrect.
Minnie Mouse was in Steamboat Willie.
He like goes and picks her up from the dock.
I guess I've never seen Steamboat Willie.
I only see that I've only reallylike.
I watched it in preparation for this episode.

(24:48):
I've. Only ever seen it when they put
it like in their like opening like before a movie in like the
hour or many anniversary they had it in there.
But I watched the whole thing, not just that first little
famous one with him whistling. Damn.
Yeah, it holds up. I got baited.
I got baited. Isn't it?
Doesn't he just whistle in it? So is is it the squeaky voice?

(25:10):
Mack, that is correct. It is his.
Squeaky voice. Yeah.
His squeaky voice debuted in 1935 with the animated short The
Band Concert and won't be publicdomain until 2031.
So that is that was the correct answer.
So that there's 2 units of correctness to you. 2 units.
His tail. I was trying to Mandela affect

(25:30):
you. He has a tail the whole time.
OK, that's what I thought. I'm like, wait a second.
Also the the gloves are kind of a.
Famous thing so. You can use his gloves, my
guess. You can use his gloves now
because 2025, the gloves came back, the color scheme, you
still can't use that. And then there's the whole thing
with like, you can't infringe onthe trademark of Mickey Mouse,

(25:50):
which is separate from the copyright.
So if someone like basically tricks someone into thinking
you're making a Disney branded thing, then you're not allowed
to do that. But you can use Mickey Mouse and
whatever the heck you want. Probably.
Probably. Include.
Like Adam and the Smash Bros character?
Oh yeah. Perfect.
And that probably I will symbol of like the circle and the two.
Yeah, that is also a trademark, correct, Mitch?

(26:12):
Little do our contestants know that this was the fake answer.
Looks like they were fooled thistime.
Well, let's move on to question 8 as being a cartoon character.
We're getting another famous cartoon character this year.
Popeye the Sailor Man is public domain in 2025.
However, while we don't get the famous spinach fueled strength

(26:34):
superpower with this release, that comes a little bit later,
his girlfriend Olive Oil actually beat him to the public
domain as she was created 10 years earlier.
Wow. During this time she had a
different on again, off again boyfriend.
What was the name of her first boyfriend?
Charlie Chaplin rules. Charlie Chaplin.

(26:55):
Yeah. So, Matt, wait, I can't say
Charlie Chaplin. Yeah, you can't even say that.
Pagliacci the clown rules. Who's in anyway Domain.
Yeah. Who is in the public domain
exactly? Is Charlie Chaplin.
He's a guy I. Bet he is.
I bet he. Is anyway that means Mac.
Basically whoever is the closestto the vibe.

(27:15):
Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. Nothing I've stumped.
You Well, OK, OK, OK. It's I think it's got to be food
related because her name's oliveoil.
That's a good guess. I'm going to go with chicken
breast chicken. Breast chicken breast like first

(27:36):
name chicken, last name breast. What a do some.
Amazing, amazing. Wow.
If they got married, her name would be Olive Breast.
That's yeah. Or hyphenated olive oil breast.
Yeah, there we go. Exactly.
I don't know if he was that forward thinking back then.
Yeah, not. For sure.
I mean, she did leave him for Popeyes.
Like he couldn't have done. That true?

(27:57):
Yeah, that's true. Anyway.
I think like maybe he's like also a sailor, like maybe she
has a type or like he's the previous version of what would
become Popeyes. So maybe like salty Stan salty.
Stan. Salty Stan.
Mitch. I like Hughes a lot.
I was thinking something food. How about just another cooking

(28:20):
substance that's similar to olive oil?
So let's say olive oil. I just fucking you didn't get
it. No, I, I guess.
Oh. My.
God. I was like, why is she like,
like in an oil rig? I guess she's a sailor.
That makes sense. OK, OK, man.
She's like an oil bearing. What the hell?

(28:41):
That's weird. Salad thing I'm gonna oil be oil
bearing Hang on she is public domain.
Someone make that Oh. My.
God, that's I'm gonna guess. I'm gonna guess.
Salted butter. Something butter is good.
You're getting the units of correctness there.
The correct answer is ham gravy.Ham gravy.

(29:01):
Oh my God. Gravy so pretty good or Harold
Ham gravy if you're if you're his mother, Ham gravy one word.
This can normally ham gravy 2 words.
Ham Gravy is a quote lounge lizard who did as little work as
possible and was always borrowing money.
Oh wow, And then he would like. Flirt with other girls and

(29:22):
they'd they kind of be on again,off again.
And then he just kind of went away when Popeye.
Came What a sleazebag. What a sleazebag, hey?
Man, old man and. We all know a ham gravy in our
lives, do we? It's, I know a ham gravy, but I
know a chicken breast, yeah. I know a herald.
I know a Herald ham gravy. He's a little more professional.

(29:43):
Yeah, this year, kick, kick those ham gravies into your
life, out of your intellectual property and into the public
domain. Get rid of them.
Anyway, question 9. As we can see with both Popeye
and Mickey sometimes, just because a character is free to
adapt doesn't mean that all their appearances are fair game.

(30:05):
With each of the following literary classics, the copyright
on the first book in the series has expired, but which of the
following is not fully in the public domain?
AL Frank Baum's The Wizard of Ozseries, B Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes series, C Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan series or

(30:29):
D Rudyard Kipling Jungle Book series Mac.
Tarzan gotta be Tarzan. Mac, that is.
Correct. 2 units of correctness to you.
Oh. My.
God. Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan
series. Only half of the books, 12 out
of 24, are in the public domain.Wow.
All of the odds books are, all of the Sherlock Holmes books

(30:50):
are, and they're only two JungleBook ones, but they're both in
the public domain. Oh, I know.
Like Sherlock Holmes especially gets a lot of public domain
adaptations, but we'll talk about adaptations a little bit
later. Yeah.
Pretty interesting. So we're we're halfway kind of
gets based on time. I think like the first question
being like when in the US, yeah,is it does it run out and then

(31:12):
that 70 years, I don't know, it's just what.
Was the answer to that one. What was the answer to that one
again? Tarzan because like all of them
I think were earlier and then Jungle Book is only like you
said, the two. Yeah, Tarzan and the Golden
Lion, I think just did it in 2025.
So that is the that's where we're at right now.
Also learned a lot about Tarzan during research.

(31:34):
I was like Oh my God there's lore there's lore and Tarzan
like bro made-up a whole fake language.
It takes place on like a different planet or something.
What? Yeah, Tarzan has crazy lore.
Go look up Tarzan lore at Tarzan.
Not anything like the Disney movie.
Anyway. Question 10.
Tintin and his dog Snowy are entering the public domain this

(31:55):
year after their debut in Tintinin the Land of the Soviets in
1929. I really like Tintin.
I read a lot of Tintin growing. Up the land of the Soviets.
Yeah, he went. To the land of the Soviets
before they were bad. Question mark.
What was he? Oh, OK.
Yeah, because it's 1929. Well, I guess.
They might have been still bad, but before like we really were
beefing with. They weren't our main concern.
Exactly. Since then, this Belgian

(32:18):
reporter has been on multiple adventures all over the world
and even the moon. The Moon Ark.
Featured very accurate science and depictions of the lunar
surface, which is strange because it was published before
humans ever. Landed on the.
Moon. How many years before the Apollo
landings did Tintin explore the moon?

(32:39):
Closest winds, Hugh. Wow. 30 years. 30 years, OK.
I don't even know. I'm going to say I'm gonna say a
little higher. I'm gonna say 40, OK?
Mac. Let's split the difference 35.
Q. Those units of correctness are
going to you. The correct answer is 17 years.

(33:01):
Wow, it did. Explorers on the moon debuted in
1952 and the moon landing occurred in 1969, but did.
He just guess. Did they just guess they did the
Herge or whatever? It's did a lot of research.
So they actually they really. Went into a.
Lot of research, Yeah, Telescope.
Sure, that's true. Interesting.
But people are still shocked to this day how accurate the

(33:23):
depictions of the lunar surface are and kind of like gravity
stuff and and actually exploringthe moon.
So it's very cool. Did any of you see that?
Like really horribly animated tin tin movie that came.
Out like Katy. Valley tin tin.
I saw it on ATV randomly one dayI was walking by and I'm like I
forgot about this. I, I love me.

(33:44):
Some like. Tin that's the the unicorn's
treasure or something like that,where they go hunt for the
pirate ship. I love that one.
Explorers on the moon stars thatthat same captain, I forget his
name. Tintin Snowy.
Professor Calculus who's? Like the quintessential science
guy. Right, of course.
Great. Name but that the Newton's.

(34:05):
Calculus book is also public domain.
That's that's a little fun. Throw it in there.
I thought you were about to say that calc.
Is short for calculator. I just use the slang calc for
calculator you're. Kind of bait us on that one,
God. Professor Calc is short for
calculus. I'm just using slang, guys.
Just using slang. Just using slang.
Yeah, yeah. Why can't I be that funny?

(34:28):
I don't know. Why didn't I think of that?
Sorry. I think about that all the time.
For you it's. Probably happy, right?
Why couldn't Aiden just be funnier?
These daggers that geez, well, Iguess while I'm recovering
emotionally, can we get a correctness check from our
contestants? I have 7 correctness points or

(34:48):
whatever God for correctness units.
Units of correctness please. You points is.
I also have 7 units of correctness.
Ohh, Tagabe if I put. A little tilt on the top of mine
it would be a 7 but it's a one. It's OK, Mitch, it's OK.
Struggling over here. OK, Section 3 is where you rise.
Again, I can come back anyway. Moving on to Route 3, we're

(35:11):
gonna talk about derivative. Works and adaptations so.
Derivative works and integral works.
Yeah, exactly. Calling upon our good friend
Professor Cock. Professor Cock short for
calculus. Guys short for calculus.
Come on guys, calculus. Anyway, question 11 just uses
like question Lev. It is for 11, just as it's like.

(35:31):
Anyway, one benefit of the public domain.
System is that it allows for adaptations of works that can
either better relate to a modernaudience or, you know, just meet
the times. But it also allows for some
goofs. If we're being real, which of
the following is a real derivative work of a public
domain work? So which is real?
Only one of these is real, a Moby Dick.

(35:53):
But the whale has erectile dysfunction.
B Pride and Prejudice, but there's more boiled potatoes.
C The Great Gatsby, but Nick hasscoliosis and is gay.
Or D Treasure Island, but the treasure was the friends they
made. Along the way Q.
I think it's the third one. The Great Gatsby 1.
I think the gay fan fiction is really like big on bruising Q.

(36:15):
That is correct, The Great Gatsby, but nick has scoliosis,
parentheses and is gay was published January 14th, 2021,
two weeks after the public The Great Gatsby enter the public
domain. Of course it is unchanged except
for the fact. That there is one sentence per
chapter just thrown in there that mentions both Nick
scoliosis and the fact that he thinks Gatsby is hot.

(36:38):
So there you go. Yeah, a better book.
A better book. It came out right around the
time I was reading Great Gatsby in school and I was like, this
is hilarious. Did.
You just read that one instead? Yeah, it's.
It's the same. I kept asking about these these
parts. I think I wrote a whole essay
about new scoliosis and how he'slike carrying the story and it's
like a metaphor for that and my teacher.

(36:58):
Was just like. What the what the fuck you
talking about these? English teachers like asking
about what these different colors mean, but in reality we
should be asking about the scoliosis.
Scoliosis. Come on.
The eyes of TJ Eckelberg are therefore is watching, going and
ogling. Yeah, John did mention to me

(37:19):
that he was like Aiden. That's basically just the plot
of The Great Gatsby. Is that there's.
Definitely an aspect to that I think.
No, I mean. Honestly, it didn't take too
much. Just throwing one sentence
connects a lot of dots. It does.
You got to read it. It's a good one.
Good read. Unfortunately none of those
other ones are public domain. Addison requested, putting in
the Pride and Prejudice joke because there's that whole scene

(37:41):
about how he's like the bored potato donations.
So I. Honestly thought it was Moby
Dick. I'm not going to lie, I really
thought it was Moby Dick. There you.
Go. I fell asleep several times
reading Pride and Prejudice, I got to say.
So you just got to watch it because then you can see the.
Tension and not just like read the.
Tension. Read it, it's boring.
Slow burn. I've heard somebody say Pride

(38:02):
and Prejudice is just they go tosomebody's house and they chalk
and then they go to somebody's house and they talk and they
just go. It's a period piece you.
You you just weren't looking forward to the boiled potatoes
if you just you had those. Really, prejudice is just like,
you know, those curves, those like story graphs you do in like
elementary school, the climax ofprivate prejudices, the boiled

(38:25):
potatoes. You have to try them you.
Have to. I hear the Moby Dick adaptation
doesn't have a climax though. That's pretty good, Hugh.
That was pretty good. That was pretty good.
Anyway, question 12 Speaking of goofs, parody horror films are a
recent trend where the classic children's characters they they

(38:48):
take on a darker tone as they are turned into blood crazed
killers which of the. Following is not a real title of
a parody horror film that has been released or is set to
release this year. Is it Mickey's Sleigh house?
The puppet master? Pinocchio.
Bambi the Reckoning or Winnie the Pooh?

(39:09):
Blood and Honey, Mitch. It's got to be Bambi the
Reckoning because that that was like an SNL sketch, wasn't it
wasn't an actual movie, it was an SNL sketch.
Mitch, that is incorrect. Oh Bambi, the reckoning.
Is a real movie. Didn't Dwayne the Rock Johnson
play Bambi? That is a separate SNL sketch I.
Think but Dang it I got baited by SNL deck.
Back. This keeps this.

(39:32):
Guy Mickey Sleigh House because the I think the Playhouse
imagery came about later, right?The Playhouse imagery did come
around later, but Mickey Sleigh House is a movie that's.
Coming out, getting away with it.
Oh, that's cool. Huge down to the 5050.
Okay, it's not the Winnie the Pooh one, it's the other one.
It is the Pinocchio. It's the puppet master
Pinocchio. Pinocchio.

(39:52):
Is public domain. I have this list on on IMDb of
all these movies. The Pinocchio 1 is Pinocchio
unleashed, Pinocchio carved fromdarkness, and Pinocchio unstrung
or on here. But I made-up strong, that's
just. Avengers Age of Ultron.
Really. Blood and Honey is one of the
more excuse me Mitch, we can't talk about oh, sorry, sorry, non

(40:14):
public domain material here. Blood and Honey is one of the
more well known ones of these kind of parody horror films.
It has a sequel I think too, that's set to release.
Oh no, it already did. Came out in 2024.
There's a third one that that's in the works and that's all the
Winnie the Pooh characters, and there are a.
Bunch of Steamboat, Steamboat Willie ones that are in the

(40:34):
works. So we have Mickey Sleigh House,
the mousetrap, Scream boat, the Mousetrap, Welcome to the Mickey
verse Mouse boat massacre, Mickey versus Winnie.
So that's a big one, but there'sa good list on IMDb.
They're kind of funny. Question, do you know the answer
about like what the deal is withdead mouse and like using mouse

(40:55):
imagery for that dude who's like.
Don't I assume that falls under the trademark stuff though.
OK, it's probably he's probably can get away with it as long as
he's separate enough from the Disney brand.
Like you don't see dead Mouse and you're like that's.
Walt Disney, you gotta, you gotta reach for that.

(41:16):
One Bambi the Reckoning is coming out in 2025.
Who wants to go? I guess I'll go.
Who wants to go? I'll go.
I I don't. I don't.
OK, you you don't want to see Bambi The Reckoning where Bambi
takes revenge on the humans. No.
OK. We'll move on to questions.
Just watch the. SNL stat.
Yeah, real. Speaking of horror movies, the

(41:37):
newly released Nosferatu is an adaptation of a public domain
work, Nosferatu, a Symphony of horror.
But that original work was almost destroyed and lost for
good back in 1922 when it was released.
What was the? Reason for its near destruction?
Open-ended. I've never heard of this Charlie
Chaplin rules. Yeah, I mean.
It's gotta be. Excuse me, Pagliacci the clown

(41:59):
rules. Yes, Pagliacci probably flood
like it was in a basement somewhere and it was going to
get destroyed. I think water good stuff could.
You just recap again with the question, OK.
So the movie. Dos Farratu came out recently,
Yes, Dos Farratu is an adaptation of the old movie that
came out in 1922, Dos Farratu, ASymphony of horror.

(42:19):
That movie when it came out was almost destroyed and we almost
lost it forever, but a couple ofcopies survived and now it's
public domain. So but what happened to that
original movie? Why was it almost destroyed?
I thought it was something else but never I I see that guy.
Was it? Was it LA fires in 1922?
I'm thinking fire. OK, Fire.
OK. I think this is a long shot, but

(42:40):
the way that you you phrased that, I think if there was like
a like was it, was it ordered tobe destroyed but then like
recalled or something like that.I think you're the closest tier,
Mitch. You wanna keep going or do you
just want me to tell you the it's?
Just tell me. OK, the reason was it was
ordered to be destroyed by a judge because it was infringing

(43:03):
on the copyright of Bram Stoker's.
Novel Dracula, OH. Damn it.
So basically, it came out so close to Dracula that the
Dracula copyright was still in effect.
A Stoker's widow sued and the court ordered all copies to be
destroyed, but luckily some survived and the film has gone
on to become a main inspiration for the horror genre as a whole.
In fact, it's the first depiction of a vampire burning

(43:24):
in sunlight. I'm going to take it.
And now? Both Dracula and the original
Nosferatu are public domain ta da they got.
Away I haven't seen the new movie.
I'm I don't watch one or the horror movies.
I kind of want to. Apparently it's pretty fun.
And see, OK, when you said Nosferatu, though, I don't, I
don't think like vampire, I think volcano, volcano, like

(43:49):
what is there's like a there's athere's a volcano that ends with
the letter to you that I'm thinking of.
Oahu no, that's. No, no, no, no.
I want to say it's like somewhere in the South Pacific
anyway. I'll be honest, when I hear
Nosferatu, I think of SpongeBob.Sounds like and that is
Nosferatu. I'm looking up Volcano.

(44:10):
That sounds like Nosferatu. And I got nothing.
Did you just okay it did? Maybe I'm just.
Host, so it's allowed. And I didn't Google Mitch, I
searched the web. Okay, anyway.
Anyway. Yeah.
But I think that's really interesting how it was.
It was copyright infringement and now they're both public
domain. And Dracula is a very adapted

(44:31):
work nowadays, but going on to question 14, Question 14.
The Bible is. One of, if not the most adapted
work in the world. While the original version is
public domain because it's, you know, 2000 years old, not all
translations are free of copyright.
Which of the following versions of the Bible is not in the

(44:54):
public domain worldwide? Is it the American Standard
Version, the World English Bible, the Darby translation, or
the King James Version? Q I'm going to go with the Darby
version. You that is incorrect.
The Darby version is public domain.
I'm going to go King James. Mitch, that is correct.
The King James Version is under copyright in one country, and

(45:15):
that country is the UK because it is held under a perpetual
copyright held by the British Crown.
So wow, the. Crown has a lifetime copyright
on the King James Bible only in the UK.
It is public domain everywhere else.
I I'm going to say this is the big lie.
Oh, you're going to OK, it's. Accusing me of the big lie.

(45:37):
I'm going to accuse you of the big Lie does.
Anyone want to jump on into thisaccusation?
I'm not jumping. OK, this sounds for you.
I will be awarding you 3. Units of falseness.
This was not no, the King James Version is perpetually

(45:59):
copyrighted by the Crown. No, I could, I could see that
the, my reasoning was like, well, OK, you've got all these
like apps with the free Bible onthere and like stuff like that.
Like where do they get the moneyto get the rights to the Bible
to like put online? Exactly I.
Wonder if they do use King. James Version, but that's
because you do it in the US, youcan't do it in the UKI.
Wonder if the Mormon 1 is I don't have copyrighted.

(46:21):
Think to the Book of Mormon. I don't.
When was the Book of Mormon allegedly written?
Allegedly written. It was written.
When did the golden blades happen is what that's like.
Dunk on all our Mormon listeners.
Well, that's three units of correctness to Mitch and three
units of falseness to Hugh there.
You got me so good there though,like I I thought that I really

(46:43):
decided. That was a big I have a
different guess, so I'm going tostick with it.
So we're moving on to Question 15, the final question of the
game. Here we go.
One of the most famous adaptations is The Wizard of Oz
movie, which is adapted from L Frankbaum's book The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz. While this film is well known
and well loved, it's not a particularly faithful adaptation

(47:05):
of the story. Many details we've come to
associate with Oz are actually under copyright by MGM, now
owned by Warner Bros. Which of the following Wizard of
Oz movie staples originally appeared in the book and is
therefore public domain? So I'm going to give you 4
details of Oz that we've associated with Oz.

(47:26):
Three of them were creations forthe movie.
One of them comes from the original book.
So here we go. The Ruby slippers, the yellow
brick road, Glinda the Good Witch of the North, or a green
Emerald City. I'm going to go.
To the yellow brick road. That is correct.
The yellow brick road was the only thing.
Okay coming from my guest too. Look, so the Ruby slippers are

(47:48):
actually the silver slippers, but because of Technicolor
they're like. These things gotta pop.
That's whatever, studio executive said.
These things got a pop. So they did.
The green Emerald City is the same thing.
In the book, all of the people have glasses locked to their
face. So they.
The city is green even though it's not the Wizards lying to

(48:09):
them, but in again in the movie.It got a pop.
It got to be Emerald. And then finally, Glenda, the
Good Witch of the North. Glenda is a character in the
book, but she's the Good Witch of the South.
So Glenda, the Good Witch of theNorth is kind of an amalgamation
character between the true Good Witch of the North.
And Glenda, the good Witch of the South.
Interesting. Kind of the good Witch of

(48:30):
Mississippi. Actually, it's pronounced
Galinda idiot. Actually, not in the movie or
OK, good book, I thought. I thought you're where you're
going to get to is. I remember watching a video or
something about how it was like the yellow brick road, but then
there was also like a red Rd. and the red Rd. was made-up for
the movie. That is correct.

(48:52):
Yeah, I thought that was really interesting.
They probably just wanted it to pop too.
Give us some contrast as opposedto just the.
Poppies the like, what else? Glenda's pink dress is also an
MGM copyright. Really.
I didn't know that. The Wicked musical can't dress
Glenda in big pink that's why she's blue.
A lot of the times in the Wickedmusical, not the movie of the
musical but the stage show, she can't be pair because not pink

(49:14):
dresses is an MGM creation for the movie so.
Interesting A. Lot, a lot of details in the
wizard. It's it's a very bad adaptation
of the book. It is not good.
So in the musical, like the the actual stage adaptation, she
doesn't wear pink, but in the movie she does because it's MGM.
It was one of. That's insane, I never knew
that. That's a while.
That is so. Interesting.

(49:34):
And the whole. Like depiction, you can make a
green emerald city but the wholedepiction of like you can't make
it too. Close to the book, The Shade of
Green of the Wicked Witch has copyright.
Like there's, it's, it's crazy. It's very.
So if you make your witch green,she can't be.
Close, too close to the actual shade that what Margaret

(49:55):
something else it. Probably has like the you know
the code like the dash. It has to be a different could
be like one number off, 1 digit off.
Pantone a lot of the a lot of the Wizard of Oz movie was just
like we got. We're using Technicolor.
We got it look good. That's interesting, yeah.
But they in the Wicked movie, they made the slippers silver.

(50:16):
I don't know. If when they spoiler for Wicked
Part 2, when they get the magic confused into them, I don't know
if they're going to turn red, you know, because they do have
the copyright. To it, so who knows?
Anyway, I'm a huge wicked fan, if you could tell, and.
I've never, I've never seen the musical, so I'm going in blind
to the second part. So I took my.
I didn't hear what you said. Anyway, and that is it for a

(50:36):
game, can I get a correctness check?
So including my -3, I have 13, 13 units of correctness.
Thank. You.
Thank you. I appreciate it.
I have 7 units of correctness, still start off stagnated.
I have seven too. And that's, that's just with the
tilt like it's there. It's that is the, that's big
live swing right there. Yeah, there's a potential for.

(51:00):
Oh, wait, no. You already challenged you.
You already changed accused, Accused, So there's no way,
there's no way for me to surpass.
You guys gotta kind. Of but I will guess, I will
guess I was a little suss of whatever I wrote down #9 I think
which one was that again #9 was or I can't say suss.
Sorry, I was suspicious. Of that was the Tarzan series

(51:21):
not being fully public domain. Yeah, I feel like that was just
very specific. I feel like that could.
And then not that I know that itwas, but that was my guess.
OK #9. Mac, do you have a an
accusation? Of my big.
I think the Steamboat Willie question one where it's about
the squeaky voice. I think that one might be, but

(51:41):
that's. He just whistles, I thought.
He does just whistle, but maybe.I was thinking that one too, but
then I just like felt so godheaded with the other.
One. Yeah, that one stuck out.
Gets you. So you're saying the Steamboat
Willie one then or? Yeah, Steamboat Willie one,
right? One of you found my big lot, and
that one was Mac. The Steamboat.

(52:03):
Willie question. In fact, the voice actually
debuted in 1929 along with the gloves.
So the voice, the short that thevoice appeared in is now public
domain and you can use that depiction.
However, you cannot copyright a specific voice.
So any Mickey can have a nice and squeaky voice.
They can probably get you on trademark if you do the like
that kind of thing. But technically you cannot

(52:27):
copyright a voice that is like, you know, an original thing that
people can create. Makes sense.
Wow. That makes sense.
That was nice job, Mack, right so.
You got my little challenge or my big lie?
Big Lie. Big Lie.
And I believe, I mean, I think Hugh is still our champion.
Here's the crown, a victory. And then, Mack, here is your TR

(52:50):
of second place. What do I get?
And Mitch, here's your hat of participation.
Yay. I just want to say this is huge
for me because every other episode I've been on as a
participant, I've lost coming dead last.
So you're. Not playing with John, that's
why. Oh, producer, producer.

(53:12):
Oh, oh, I could have used our bus 1 original copyrighted
material this entire time and I was acting like a fool of
myself. Well anyway, we still had fun,
right? Congrats to you.
Well gang, it looks like we've rolled into the station so
that's all the time we have. If you enjoyed.
Your ride on Bus 1. We'd love it if you told all
your friends, enemies, lovers and or acquaintances about us.
We're on all the socials at Bus 1.

(53:33):
Trivia. And don't forget to send in your
answer to the audience question.You can write to
us@hyattbus1trivia.com or join our Discord server.
The link can be found on our website, bus1trivia.com, all
spelled out. Or you can also check out our
official merch. I'd like to thank Mac for being
a guest on his first episode. Thank you very much, Mac.
Yeah. Thanks for having me, yeah.

(53:54):
Finally, we'd like to actually and I'd also like to thank.
John and Cooper, who both reviewed my questions and and
helped me make the episode a little better.
And then finally, we'd like to thank Vert for the use of our
theme song 597. 8 Which is say it with me, everybody really
good. Song Banger.

(54:18):
Thank you back and thank you allfor riding Bus 1.
We'll see you next week. Have a good one.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.