According to the Wall Street Journal Betty Boop is now fair game.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s ruling that animator Max Fleischer doesn’t hold a valid copyright or trademark for cartoon character Betty Boop, as he was unable to prove the chain of how the rights to the character was transferred over the years.
“If we ruled that Avela’s depictions of Betty Boop infringed Fleischer’s trademarks, the Betty Boop character would essentially never enter the public domain,” U.S. Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace wrote.
Max Fleischer created Betty Boop in 1930 and sold the rights to her cartoons and the character about 10 years after creating her. His family, in an attempt to revive the Fleischer cartoon business, incorporated Fleisher Studios in the early 1970s and attempted to repurchase the intellectual property rights to the character.
Ok So truth be known my wife Judi is a huge Betty Boop fan.
So although I’m sure there is a lesson to be learned here all I can say is
Boop–boop–de–doop
You can read a Reuters story on the decision here and the decision itself here.