Disney loses ownership of the original Mickey Mouse

Original versions of Disney’s Mickey mouse have officially entered the public domain now the animation’s copyright has officially expired.

The 1928 short film Steamboat Willie was the third Mickey animation produced by Disney.

Intended as a parody of Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill, Jr., it was the first production to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey’s debut.

The animation featured early non-speaking versions of Mickey and Minnie, acknowledged as the film that made cinema history and turned Disney into what it is today.

The mouse eyes and appearance in this film established his appearance for decades to come, and can still be seen in modern iterations.

Disney’s copyright has now expired, meaning their images are now open in the US to the public domain.

This means the original versions of the famed Mickey and Minnie can now be reworked without permission and for free. The animations can now legally be reused, sampled, repurposed, performed and shared.

Disney has warned that the modern versions of these two characters are still copyrighted.

“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.

Rights to characters can be held for 95 years under US copyright law, consequently, the characters included in Steamboat Willie have officially entered the public domain as of January 1, 2024.

This means that it isn’t just Mickey and Minnie who are becoming available to the American public and that other characters, books and music from 1928 have also re-entered the public domain.

These characters were initially expected to be available in the public domain in 1984, but the term was extended by Congress which happened again in 2004.

These efforts have been referred to as “the Mickey Mouse Protection Act”, but unfortunately the publication date was set and has since been actioned.

The director of the Duke Centre for the Study of the Public Domain, Jennifer Jenkins, referred to it as a “deeply symbolic and long-awaited” milestone, in conversation with the BBC.

“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 explained.

Jenkins revealed that Disney’s “perceived role” within the extension of the copyright term that prevented its content from being publicly accessible means this is a significant moment.

Mickey is a brand identifier, meaning that Disney still holds a separate trademark on its corporate mascot, limiting the public use of this content.

“What I cannot do is start making merchandise and the same kinds of products that Disney sells,” Jenkins 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.”

This story first appeared on Nine Honey and is republished with permission.