Disney’s decades-long copyright on the character’s Steamboat Willie incarnation will be no more, and the public can do with him as they please.
January 1, 2024 won’t just be the start of a new year. It’ll also see Mickey and Minnie Mouse enter the public domain.
Come that date, Disney’s exclusive copyright on the two iconic characters’ Steamboat Willie incarnations from 1928 will have run out, after which anyone can do anything they want with them. So if you’ve got a song, cartoon, movie, whatever, starring one or both of those characters that you’ve been sitting on for some time? Get ready to stand up and let that thing out into the world. This marks the first time ever that the two mice are available to be used by the general public, and it’s definitely a win for anyone who felt like they had to stop their creative pursuits to avoid getting sued by Disney.
How did we get to a point where one of the largest companies in the world has owned this specific version of two characters for 95 years? At first, this Mickey and Minnie were set to enter the public domain back in 1984 after what was already a sizable 55-year run. But in 1976, Congress’ 1976 Copyright Act gave a 20-year extension to all copyrights that were approaching public domain back then. After lobbying from Disney and other companies, the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act” was formed in 1998, making it so that copyrights’ lives were extended another 20 years, which remains in place to this day.
Rawr
Article URL : https://gizmodo.com/mickey-mouse-steamboat-willie-public-domain-jan-1-2024-1851122457