In 1998, Congress extended the copyright term to 95 years. Many expected a further extension, but none has materialised. As valuable properties slip towards the public domain, film studios are doing their best to shore up their legal defences. Hollywood is getting ready not just with lawyers, but ringing value out of properties like Batman while they still can. While also building up spin-offs, whose copyright will last longer.
China’s arsenal of nuclear weapons has swiftly expanded; it is now roughly the size of Russia’s and America’s. That will make for a different—and far trickier—landscape of three-way deterrence. We ask what to expect as a mountain of Hollywood’s intellectual property heads for the
public domain. And our correspondent checks in on America’s friendliest and most bearded
sport. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of
The Economist, subscribe here
www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer