After long legal battles, January 1, 2024 marks the day Mickey Mouse enters the public domain.
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As a result, the character’s first animated short film, Steamboat Willie, turns 95 next year, and this is the deadline for intellectual properties to enter the public domain under American copyright laws.
It is worth remembering that the same law has already been changed twice, in 1976 and in 1998, thanks to the efforts of the Walt Disney Company to maintain total control over its most beloved character. This time, for now, there have been no efforts in this direction — but the possibility still exists.
“That’s a big one,” Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Duke Center for the Study of Public Domain, told Variety. “It’s generating a lot of excitement in the copywriting community. It’s finally happening!”
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Therefore, although the news raises expectations, it is important to highlight that only the Steamboat Willie variation will be in the public domain.
Other versions and works containing the character continue under the wings of Disney. In 2007, a version of the short began to be used as the logo of Walt Disney Company Animations, reinforcing the brand’s control over the product in question.
This way, there will be fewer ways to explore the character than with Winnie the Pooh. A version with Mickey Mouse of the horror Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, for example, is more difficult to get off the ground.
According to Professor Justin Hughes, a copyright expert, caution will be needed so that no adaptation creates legitimate challenges from Disney regarding copyright infringement.