Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5154975-20140830155800/@comment-1916997-20141230225725

Hmcooper4 wrote: And, as was pointed out, making twists or modifications gives a person some rights. but only to the modifications/twists/additional content. The original content is still public domain. Which is why, for the Oz segment, the shoes were silver as in the book (which is still public domain). That feature is not protected by copyright. The Wicked Witch, I believe, was green in the original story, so that feature can also be used.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, the original fairy tale is public domain. Since the Disney Movie was in 1939, Disney probably still has the rights to their modifications, such as the names of all the dwarves (those rights probably expire in 2034). So Once can call a dwarf Grumpy, because they probably have permission from Disney (ya think?), but another studio could not use those names in any production of any variation of the Snow White Story. And because of Once, Not only are the 7 original names protected (by Disney), but Dreamy, Stealthy, and Tiny are now protected as well (as far as dwarf names are concerned). The witch is not green in the book (or at least it is not stated), and she has an eye patch and braided hair in the book, which never seems to get used, but I digress. But because you can't copyright a green magical woman character, everyone is free to use it, so long as it is not the exact shade of green as the MGM movie.