MICKEY MOUSE TO ENTER PUBLIC DOMAIN

The animated short film “Steamboat Willie,” released in 1928 and featuring the earliest non-speaking versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, holds a special place in cinema history as the moment that transformed Disney’s fortunes. Now, as of January 1, 2024, the images of these beloved characters are officially in the public domain in the United States, marking a significant development in copyright law.

Creatives, particularly cartoonists, now have the freedom to rework and utilize the earliest renditions of Mickey and Minnie without seeking permission or incurring any costs. However, Disney has issued a cautionary note, specifying that more modern versions of Mickey remain protected by copyright. The expiration of copyright for characters, as per US law, occurs after 95 years, leading to the release of the characters in Steamboat Willie into the public domain on New Year’s Day.

Steamboat Willie and the Dawn of a New Era for Disney’s Iconic Characters

This change opens up opportunities for artists and creators to legally share, perform, reuse, repurpose, or sample the early versions of Mickey and Minnie. The public domain expansion isn’t limited to these iconic characters; various films, books, music, and characters from 1928, including Charlie Chaplin’s “The Circus,” AA Milne’s “The House at Pooh Corner,” Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando,” and DH Lawrence’s “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” are now accessible to the American public.

Disney’s journey to protect the copyright of its original cartoons has been a saga, with multiple extensions granted by Congress. The characters were initially expected to enter the public domain in 1984, but subsequent.. Read more…?