The estate of George Orwell, the late author of 1984, was recently involved in an intellectual property dispute with Café Press over the sale of T-shirts emblazoned with the number 1984. When Café Press received notice from the Orwell Estate of a copyright violation they disabled the T-shirts from being displayed. This incident has generated considerable debate about Orwell’s legacy and what the author would think about modern copyright laws. George Orwell’s famous book, 1984, is expected to remain under copyright until at least 2044. The Orwell Estate has been involved in other past copyright disputes. In one case they succeeded in a dispute with Apple over a 1984 Super Bowl add to introduce Macintosh.
See David Kravets, Orwell estate again rattling copyright saber over 1984 novel, Ars Technica, October 28, 2015.
Special thanks to Brian Cohan (Attorney at Law, Law Offices of Brian J. Cohan, P.C.) for bringing this article to my attention.
