O T: I guess copyrights and trademarks are just no longer respected?

[Dan Hocker]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacre_Stoker

This is the relevant section. It doesn't actually re-establish copyright for him though. That's legally impossible.

Because of the Stokers' frustrating history with Dracula's copyright, Dacre, with encouragement from screenwriter Ian Holt, decided to write "a sequel that bore the Stoker name" to "reestablish creative control over" the original novel. In 2009, Dracula the Un-dead was released, written by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. Both writers claim to have "based [their work] on Bram Stoker's own handwritten notes for characters and plot threads excised from the original edition" along with their own research for the sequel, though the plot and characters often directly contradict the original novel. This also marked Dacre Stoker's writing debut.^[7][8]Winnipeg Free Press reviewer Kenneth MacKendrick called it "tempting enough to read and bad enough to be controversial, striking a balance between sensationalism and mediocrity"

[c marvel]

This is the relevant section. It doesn't actually re-establish copyright for him though. That's legally impossible.

I was just hazarding a guess. ~Cap

[Dan Hocker]

I was just hazarding a guess. ~Cap

I think (and I may be wrong) once something is officially in the public domain it can't go back.

[goathunter]

I think (and I may be wrong) once something is officially in the public domain it can't go back.

There was some way that NBC/Universal was able to re-establish control of It's a Wonderful Life, which had been in the public domain for years. The only reason the film is so well-known and beloved now is because it was in the public domain through the '80s, and TV stations could play it as much as they wanted to without paying anyone for it.

Ah, here's how they did that.

https://www.mintz.com/insights-cente...as-classic-its