Sure, if I buy a Mickey Mouse plush from Disney, Disney still owns Mickey Mouse (it’s Steamboat Willie that expired), but I certainly own that individual Mickey Mouse plush and Disney can’t kick in my door or put a lien on my house to retrieve it. Similarly, if I download an .mp3 of Banana Boat the estate of Harry Belafonte still owns the rights to the song, but I own that copy of that song and they can’t kick in my laptop or put a lien on my graphics card (I hate that I have to mention this, but I know that’s not what these companies do and I have made what is called a “joke” in some circles, likening it to physical repo guys repoing files, see.)
The only person who actually owns IP is the person selling it
Sure, if I buy a Mickey Mouse plush from Disney, Disney still owns Mickey Mouse (it’s Steamboat Willie that expired), but I certainly own that individual Mickey Mouse plush and Disney can’t kick in my door or put a lien on my house to retrieve it. Similarly, if I download an .mp3 of Banana Boat the estate of Harry Belafonte still owns the rights to the song, but I own that copy of that song and they can’t kick in my laptop or put a lien on my graphics card (I hate that I have to mention this, but I know that’s not what these companies do and I have made what is called a “joke” in some circles, likening it to physical repo guys repoing files, see.)