Mansion Butler
Active Member
You are not the first person to have heard this rumor, so I will try and be nice, but this myth does need to die: it is not true.I'm pretty positive the reason the hat is mandatory is because Disney never renewed the contract with the owners of the real Chinese Theater. I guess they wanted too much money for the renewal so instead, Disney left the giant hat in front of it, hence the hat is the Icon for the Studios.
Buildings constructed prior to 1990, according to US copyright law, cannot be protected by copyright. The Chinese Theater is much, much older than that.
Source.