Mickey Mouse to Enter Public Domain in 2024
By Movieguide® Contributor
The earliest forms of Mickey Mouse, such as Steamboat Willie, will hit the public domain at the start of 2024 as Disney’s copyright expires.
“This is it. This is Mickey Mouse,” said Jennifer Jenkins, a law professor and director of Duke’s Center for the Study of Public Domain. “This is exciting because it’s kind of symbolic. I kind of feel like the pipe on the steamboat, like expelling smoke. It’s so exciting.”
The iconic Disney character has long stood as a symbol for copyright law. The length of time copyright covers has been extended multiple times since he was created, partially due to Disney’s pressure on lawmakers.
“It’s sometimes derisively referred to as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act,” Jenkins explained. “That’s oversimplified because it wasn’t just Disney that was pushing for term extension. It was a whole group of copyright holders whose works were set to go into the public domain soon, who benefited greatly from the 20 years of extra protection.”
Fiercely protective of its famous mouse, Disney has clarified that it will fight for every version of Mickey still under copyright.
“Ever since Mickey Mouse’s first appearance in the 1928 short film STEAMBOAT WILLIE, people have associated the character with Disney’s short stories, experiences, and authentic products,” a Disney spokesperson told The Associated Press. “That will not change when the copyright in the STEAMBOAT WILLIE film expires.”
“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,” the spokesperson continued.
“We will, of course, continue to protect our rights in the more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remains subject to copyright,” Disney added.
Until now, the most famous character to hit the public domain was Winnie the Pooh, who went public at the beginning of 2022. However, as many notable figures were invented in the 1920s, the public domain will soon be flooded with cultural icons. Superman, Batman and Bugs Bunny are among many that will soon follow Mickey Mouse into the hands of the public.
Movieguide® previously reported:
The 2023 is set to be a red-letter day for the release of “Dozens of Iconic Media,” the Daily Wire reports.
Many notable books, films, and songs will be given the status of “public domain.”
“A number of legendary media are about to enter the public domain in 2023, including the last remaining ‘Sherlock Holmes’ mystery book,” John Rigolizzo of The Daily Wire writes.
Whenever something passes from private ownership to being in the public domain, one of two things may happen:
Possibility 1: The creative minds of other “sub-creators” (J. R. R. Tolkien, “On Fairy-Stories,” p. 23) will take the work of a “sub-creator” who has touched their lives, wrestle with this work, and seek to present it as faithfully as possible.
Possibility 2: The creative minds of other “sub-creators” will take another’s work and reinterpret it falsely, intentionally twisting the meaning of the work, for their own purposes.
- Content: +1Share:
- Content: +1