Our assignment was to read "How Disney Raids the Public Domain," and react to the article. I see both views presented in the piece. I can comprehend how the author thinks it's unfair and hypocritical for Disney to use work from the Public Domain, but contribute nothing in return (or rather protects its work even more heavily in return), and I can understand see how Disney doesn't want anyone to (ever) use its work in any way. My perspective is at the end of the day, entertainment is Disney's business, and if everyone else is using it's work (and perhaps improving on it), Disney may not make as much money (though you could argue that it would give Disney publicity). Besides, you can always just try to substantially change the original work ("transformative work") to decrease the chances of copyright infringement (although this might be completely wrong because copyright's still a little confusing to me).
But in the end, I think the article's just about the age-old battle of the public versus the creator.
But in the end, I think the article's just about the age-old battle of the public versus the creator.