That Mickey Mouse may become part of the public domain in 2024

by Andy Castro

Mickey Mouse is a character that has been loved for over 90 years since it appeared in the short animation " Steamboat Willy " published in the United States in 1928. Upon completion of the copyright protection period of this "Steamboat Willy" in January 2024, Mickey Mouse will eventually become part of the public domain in the United States of America. Ars Technica explains what happens when the copyright of Mickey Mouse, one of the most famous anime characters in the world, disappears.

Mickey Mouse will be public domain soon-here's what that means | Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/01/a-whole-years-worth-of-works-just-fell-into-the-public-domain/

The " Sony · Bono copyright extension law " enacted in the United States in 1998 extended the copyright protection period of the work published until 1977 from 75 years to 95 years, further announced after 1978 The copyright protection period of the work was decided for 70 years after the author's death, in the case of corporate works, 95 years after issue or 120 years after production.

"Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin premiered in 1924 will become the public domain in January 2020 after the 1995 copyright protection period. Also, in January 2021, F. Scott Fitzgerald 's " Gorgeous Gatsby ", in January 2022 Ernest Hemingway 's " Sun will rise again " will be in the public domain.

And in January 2024, the copyright protection period of Steamboat Willy published in 1928 expires. There are various opinions about when the copyright of Mickey Mouse occurred, but when interpreted as occurring with the first appearance of this "Steamboat Willy", as the copyright protection period of "Steamboat Willy" expires, Mickey Mouse's Copyright disappears for the first time. In addition, "Steamboat Willy" itself is already officially released as a public domain in Japan already.

"Celebration! Mickey Mouse" Steamboat Willie - YouTube


James Grimmelmann, Cornell Law School's copyright scholar, pointed out that the copyright system of contemporary characters has become much more intensive and comprehensive than the 1920 to the 1930's, "Before the 1920's There was no character that exceeded Mickey Mouse.The situation where the copyright of characters like Mickey Mouse disappeared is legally unknown area. "

After January 2024, the copyright for the original Mickey Mouse boarded in Disney's "steamship Willy" will disappear. In other words, as long as after January 2024, if you are figureing to be appearing in "Steamboat Willy", creating a character goods for Mickey Mouse without obtaining permission from Disney is not a problem under the copyright law .

However, according to Grimmelmann, the character Mickey Mouse has evolved little by little while appearing in numerous works afterwards, that the copyright of Mickey Mouse will not completely disappear. The most obvious example is "white gloves". Mickey Mouse is wearing white gloves containing three black lines, but he was not wearing when "Steamboat Willy" appeared.

by Santiago Otero

The copyright of Mickey Mouse with white gloves disappears will be after 2025 when ' Mickey's Opera Tour ' becomes the public domain. Besides gloves, since Mickey Mouse has been changing over small portions such as nose and eyes, it is thought that it is quite a long time to be able to use modern Mickey Mouse with copyright free.

Also, at the moment that the work "Steamboat Willy" becomes the public domain Disney loses the copyright of Mickey Mouse, but Mickey Mouse's trademark will not be lost. An important point in the Trademark Law is "whether consumers are confused about the origin of products" and in the case of Mickey Mouse it is "whether or not consumers believe that it is an official product of Disney". For example, commercial examples such as "use Mickey Mouse to sell products unrelated to animation like toothpaste" is as outlined under the Trademark Law as it is easy for consumers to misunderstand as it is an official product of Disney It can be said that there is a high possibility.

However, regarding the part of whether the use of works that became the public domain based on the trademark or author's moral rights can be completely controlled, deny in the past cases such as Shostakovich v. 20th Century Fox case and Duster vs. 20th Century Fox case It has been. In Duster v. 20th Century Fox case, the High Court stated that "restricting re-publication of creative works by trademark law and author's moral rights creates a" mutant copyright law "that restricts copying of public domain works We have carefully warned against the misuse of trademarks, excessive expansion and related protection to the area traditionally occupied by patents or copyrights. "

Mickey Mouse is not the only character whose copyright disappears. Charman of Disney's feature animation film " Snow White " published in 1937, Superman who first appeared in Action Comics issued in June 1938, Batman who debuted for the first time in Detective Comics issued May 1939, etc, 2033 It will be part of the public domain between the year and 2035.

by greyloch

Grimmelmann said, "Similar to Duster v. 20th Century Fox's case, companies such as Disney may not be able to restrict the creative reuse of Mickey Mouse by trademark by trademark," he says, It is a broad principle that we can not use trademark law to manage distribution. " As long as the revision of the copyright protection period by the US Congress is not resolved by 2024, it is a far away future that characters like Mickey Mouse will be more freely used than ever, although there are finite limitations .