Of Mahatma Gandhi & Popeye the Sailor

What is common between the legendary Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and the creator of the iconic cartoon character Popeye the Sailor? All the copyright material related to them would end on January 1, 2009 when these fall into the public domain.

The statutory law restricts the rights of authors to 60/70 years after their death. The copyright expiry means that, from Thursday, anyone can print and sell Gandhi or Popeye posters, T-shirts and even create new comic strips, books without the need for authorisation or to make royalty payments.

The Times of London reports: “Elzie Segar, the Illinois artist who created Popeye, his love interest Olive Oyl and nemesis Bluto, died in 1938. The Popeye industry stretches from books, toys and action figures to computer games, a fast-food chain and the inevitable canned spinach.” More here…

The Times of India reports: “Unfazed by the likelihood of publishers picking up Gandhiji’s works for a profit, Managing Trustee of the Navajivan Trust, the custodian of Gandhiji’s writings, Jitendra Desai reasons: ‘Even in profiteering, they would propagate Gandhian thought’.

“Mahatma Gandhi died on January 30, 1948. Since 1919 the Navajivan Trust has published over 300 volumes of Gandhi’s articles, letters, speeches and translations of his autobiography.” More here…

Not many know that Mahatma Gandhi was a prolific writer and a journalist for decades. See here…