As everyone knows, copyrights are only good for a certain period of time, after which the protected item enters the public domain. Somebody forgot to renew the copyright in 1974 for It's A Wonderful Life and that's why you used to see it on TV all the time, until...something happened and it isn't shown as much, I don't know why. And they changed how long a copyright was good for. And when Mickey Mouse was in danger of entering the public domain Disney had Congress pass a law that changed it some more. I don't know the details, and copyright law makes my head hurt. And that's probably another reason why Popeye entering public domain probably won't change much of anything because of fear of legal matters, whether they're in the right or not?
And that won't stop Popeye porn anyway, Mark, since it's been around for awhile. What about in Will Eisner's graphic novel "The Dreamer" where his fictional counterpart is offered the chance to draw Tijuana Bibles and was shown samples such as "Popeye in the Bedroom"? And what about that old joke about what happened to the mountain climber that went to Mount Olive?