[bitwize]

I got into this discussion with coworkers about the loss of copyright for Steamboat Willie. They were all like "Now anybody can make Mickey Mouse cartoons!" Not so fast. The name and likeness of Mickey Mouse are also trademarked, and Disney can hold onto them forever.

It's the same with Mario. Even if the copyright on Super Mario Bros. expired today, Nintendo could claim trademark protection on the names and likenesses of Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser, the Koopas, etc. Even the theme music. This has already been done. The "Tetris theme" is a public domain Russian folk song called Коробейники -- but The Tetris Company LLC owns a trademark on this song in the video game market.

Tetris is one of the most jealously guarded IPs in the world. Every aspect of Tetris is protected with copyrights and trademarks -- the board dimensions, the pieces, everything. Writing a game that plays like Tetris without a Tetris license is a good way to get sued and found liable. It's entirely possible for Nintendo to lock down protection of the Mario IP in virtual perpetuity in similar fashion, making copyright expiry moot for all but the most unimportant elements (say, the particular shapes of the clouds and horsetail plants in Super Mario Bros.).

[staticman2]

Trademark isn't intended to be a backdoor to extend copyright law.

Obviously someone calling for copyright expiration is calling for a sane interpretation (or reinterpretation, if you will) of trademark law.

Even under current law whether you can make a Micky Mouse cartoon probably has more to do with which judge your litigation is in front of than anything else.

[Wowfunhappy]

Exactly. I don't have an issue with Nintendo maintaining the exclusive ability to create new Mario games because it encourages Nintendo to ensure maintain a certain level of quality. Nintendo wants consumers to associate "Mario" with "quality", so they will only release high-quality Mario games.

We can debate whether Nintendo upholds that standard—I thought some of the Mario Party games were pretty atrocious—but at least the incentive exists.