How public domain made way for a 'Winnie The Pooh' horror movie

The 1926 children's book "Winnie-the-Pooh" by author A.A. Milne entered the public domain this year, which happens 95 years after the original publication of a piece of art. That means a horror movie like "Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey" can now be made. That may not please Disney, which bought rights to Milne’s copyrighted works in 1961. But, "Blood and Honey" is building upon characters no longer protected by a copyright, just like Disney did with public domain fairy tales like Cinderella and Snow White.

Class discussion: Do you understand how copyright laws work? Have you ever illegally used copyrighted material, like books, photos, music or films? Shouldn’t people who created these works of art get paid for their efforts? Has the availability of so much material online made enforcing copyrights much more difficult? How much do writers, composers and other artists base their work on earlier artworks? Don’t all human beings “stand on the shoulders of giants” to pursue art, science and almost everything else we do?