Steamboat Willie, a 1928 short film featuring early non-speaking versions of Mickey and Minnie, is widely regarded as a pivotal moment in Disney’s history. After Disney’s copyright expired, their images are now available to the public in the United States. It means that artists, such as cartoonists, can now rework and use the original versions of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.
Anyone can use those versions without asking for permission or paying a fee.
Recent versions of Mickey Mouse are still protected by copyright
However, Disney cautioned that more recent versions of Mickey are still protected by 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.
According to US copyright law, characters’ rights can be held for 95 years, which means the characters in Steamboat Willie entered the public domain on Monday, January 1, 2024.
These works can now be shared, performed, reused, repurposed, or sampled legally.
Early versions of Mickey and Minnie are just two of the works that will become public domain in the United States on New Year’s Day.
Other famous films, books, music, and characters from 1928 are now available to the general public in the United States.
They include the silent romantic comedy The Circus by Charlie Chaplin, and the book The House at Pooh Corner by English author AA Milne, which introduced the character Tigger, Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, and DH Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
Because of Disney’s efforts to protect its characters, the law has been dubbed “the Mickey Mouse Protection Act.” But now the time has come.
The Duke Centre for the Study of the Public Domain’s Jennifer Jenkins told the BBC that it was a “deeply symbolic and long awaited” milestone.
“What that means for us is that as of 2024, anyone will be free to copy, share, and build upon those original cartoons from 1928 and the characters within them,” she said.
Jenkins emphasized the significance of the moment because of Disney’s “perceived role” in the extension of the copyright term, which prevented its properties from entering the public domain for so long.
Here’s a catch: Disney maintains a separate trademark on Mickey as a brand identifier and corporate mascot
Disney maintains a separate trademark for Mickey as a brand identifier and corporate mascot. That means there are still restrictions on how the public can use these images, according to Jenkins.
“What I cannot do is start making merchandise and the same kinds of products that Disney sells,” she said.
“So if I’m selling T-shirts with Mickey and Minnie on them and someone seeing those T-shirts thinks erroneously that they’re getting a Disney product when they’re not, that’s what trademark stops.”
So any use of Mickey Mouse that gives the impression that he belongs to a brand other than Disney would still be a trademark issue.
According to a Disney spokesperson, people have associated Mickey Mouse with the company since his first appearance in 1928.
“That will not change when the copyright in the Steamboat Willie film expires,” they said.
“More modern versions of Mickey will remain unaffected by the expiration of the Steamboat Willie copyright, and 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.”
