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Kermit as he appears in Sam and Friends.

Kermit is a lizard-like Muppet who serves as a character in Sam and Friends by Jim Henson. Although he is a kindhearted figure, he is gullible, which typically causes him to be a causes him to be a victim to such as Mack as shown in the commercials.

Public Domain Appearances[]

Television[]

  • Sam and Friends (1955) (Currently partially lost)

Advertising[]

  • Esskay Meats Commercials (1961..?)

Copyright Status[]

  • Kermit first appeared in Sam and Friends, it was long thought Sam and Friends was not public domain due to it being a live broadcast and not pre-recorded footage. However, Kermit's debut skit (only the footage not the recording due to the Music Act of 2018) having been confirmed to be pre-recorded as well as confirmation from other sources confirm the show was pre-recorded in some way (if Reruns of older episodes aired before it's canceliation) and most episodes that survive today never had a copyright notice, making them become public domain when aired and the series was never really "copyrighted."
  • Kermit also appears in the Esskay Meats Commercials and they were published without notices which were required for most pre-recorded things on TV such as commercials before 1981, making them public domain when first aired. If the commercials aired in 1961, they wouldn't have been renewed either.
  • Disney still owns the trademark on "Kermit" despite being a common name, and Kermit was not seen as a frog until on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. This means that although Kermit can legally be used within a work of fiction, he can't be used in a way to confuse Disney or the Jim Henson Company is involved and his name might not be able to be used in the title.
  • Kermit's public domain status (as well as other copyright statuses of Jim Henson's past characters) is a much disputed and controversial case on the Public Domain subreddit and Public Domain Superheroes wiki due to people disagreeing or agreeing whenever Sam and Friends was published. (despite information surfacing that it likely was since broadcasts are considered "published" when aired except for unscripted News and Sports stations.) A infamous post labeled "Why do People still Think Jim Henson's characters are Public Domain" despite gaining 20+ upvotes is a false post due to the fact many of Jim Henson's no-notice works are considered and heavily confirmed to be public domain in the United States and many of his older commercials can be found on Wikisource, which is a reliable site for public domain works, debunking the post altogether. It's likely Kermit is public domain due to Sam and Friends lacking a notice and never renewing it's copyrights on it's episodes. Basically, it's heavily likely most of Jim Henson's past commercial characters are in the public domain due to no notice or non-renewal.
  • Only the Lizard-like version of Kermit is in the public domain, the iconic frog version from 1969 is still under copyright due to a vaild notice.

See also[]

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