Popular Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse have become copyright-free this year, allowing people to use them for commercial purposes without requiring the company’s approval.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, the first version of Mickey and Minnie Mouse that was featured in the Walt Disney animated short film “Steamboat Willie” from 1928 entered public domain. Disney’s copyright of the characters has now ended. U.S. copyright laws allow a character to be copyrighted for 95 years. Since Steamboat Willie was released in 1928, the copyright for the short’s contents was only valid till the end of 2023.
However, this does not mean that people have free access to the Mickey Mouse character. Only the Steamboat Willie version is in the public domain. All later versions are still owned by Disney under copyright laws.
Disney confirmed this in a statement to the Associated Press. “More modern versions of Mickey will remain unaffected by the expiration of the Steamboat Willie copyright … We will, of course, continue to protect our rights in the more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright,” the company said.
“Mickey will continue to play a leading role as a global ambassador for the Walt Disney Company in our storytelling, theme park attractions, and merchandise.”
During an interview with CNN, Rebecca Tushnet, a Harvard Law School professor, predicted that one of the first uses of Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse could be on e-commerce platform Etsy.
However, this can open a can of worms for small artists and sellers who may look to sell Mickey Mouse-themed items as any wrong move can result in a lawsuit from Disney, she said.
“Unfortunately, those people are precisely the kind of people who are unlikely to have the resources to actually figure out the legal boundaries.”
“Whatever you do, to be protected against copyright infringement claims … you really have to be making new stuff and be sure you are basing it on Steamboat Willie,” Ms. Tushnet stated.
Companies are already cashing in on the Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse. A trailer of a horror game featuring this version of the character was released on Jan. 1. The game, called “Infestation 88,” involves players being hunted by Steamboat Mickey Mouse.
On Monday, a trailer for a movie featuring Steamboat Mickey Mouse was also released online. The movie is in the comedy-horror genre and features a masked killer dressed up as the character. To stay clear of legal troubles, the trailer also has a disclaimer.
Copyright Laws
Disney’s copyright over Mickey Mouse has been a controversial topic over the past decades due to how the company allegedly lobbied Congress to protect the copyright.Mickey Mouse was originally supposed to expire in 2003 under U.S. law which only allowed copyright protection for 75 years. However, Congress passed the “Copyright Term Extension Act” in 1998 under which 20 more years of copyright protection was added.
According to a 1998 post from Eagle Form, a conservative organization, the Disney Political Action Committee made monetary contributions to nine out of 12 sponsors of the Senate bill. Out of the 13 sponsors of the bill in the House, 10 received contributions from the group.
“If the bill ever had to face a floor debate, the ‘debate’ would have been a sham because access to the floor was controlled in both Houses by ranking Republican and Democratic Judiciary Committee members, all of whom supported the bill. But the sponsors were skillful enough to avoid even a modicum of public debate,” the post said.
Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke University, pointed out in a post that while Disney lobbied to keep its content out of the public domain, the company itself is a “practitioner of building upon the public domain.”
For instance, Disney’s successful “Frozen” movie was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen.” Its famous “Lion King” feature takes inspiration from biblical stories and Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
Popular characters from Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, the Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty, Pinocchio, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame draw upon stories from the Brothers Grimm, Lewis Carroll, Hans Christian Anderson, Victor Hugo, and others.
With the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse in public domain, it remains to be seen whether the public would be receptive to any alternate characterization of one of the beloved animated characters.
After Winnie-the-Pooh entered public domain in 2022, a movie featuring the character in a horror flick was released last year. However, the film did not sit well with audiences or critics.
In addition to Steamboat Willie, several other films entered public domain this year, including “The Circus,” directed by Charlie Chaplin, and “The Man Who Laughs,” by Paul Leni, which features a character who inspired Joker in the Batman franchise.
