Skip to main content

New Year's Day 2024 ushers 'Steamboat Willie' in to the Public Domain

Copyright protection for the earliest version of Mickey and Minnie Mouse expires this year.  That means, Mickey and Minnie Mouse characters as used in Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy (the 1928 version of each) become part of the Public Domain in 2024.  The two early images can then be used for other creative works without fear of copyright law issues.  

But WAIT A MINUTE, before taking up brush and paint or pen to make a derivative work, consider that Disney has been in business a very long time and was helpful in extending copyright terms that were approved by Congress.  

Copyright law is complicated, and where copyright and trademark apply to the same creative work, that intersection adds unique peculiarities.  Disney still maintains copyright (for 95 years) of each later version of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.  So, it's important to know which version is in the Public Domain.  That said, if the character is trademarked, this sets up other issues when using the Public Domain image with the intention to sell the work.  Disney continues to have a trademark on the Mickey Mouse character for business purposes (e.g. branding, logo, etc.).    

David Mullich, a former game producer at The Walt Disney Company) has provided answers to some questions in responses he has posted to Quora.  Among them are the following three quotes:

"Note that even when you will legally be able to create a copy of the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse, you still cannot sell that image or sell merchandise having that image on it, because that image is a trademark of The Walt Disney Company, and trademarks do not expire as long as they continue to be used by the trademark owner."

"Copyright protects individual creative works, and a work's copyright protects the depiction of characters in that work.  So, there is no copyright for Mickey Mouse, but there is copyright for works in which  Mickey Mouse is a character."  (This quote is somewhat confusing to me in terms of what it means about the copyrighted items moving in to Public Domain.  It seems to say that it is the films that are entering Public Domain rather than the characters in the film.  how do you read this?)

"The copyright for the first Mickey Mouse short, Steamboat Willie, will expire on January 1, 2024.  Tihs will allow you to legally reproduce, distribute, show in public, or make derivative works from that short without The Walt Disney Company's permission."  (Tihs seems to affirm, Mr. Mullich's position that it is the film from 1928 is entering Public Domain.)

Can you see why it's all quite complicated?

Read more about how to distinguish between the versions of Mickey Mouse in addition to getting a better understanding of how copyright and trademark work when they apply to the same thing as well as a couple other article links.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introducing 'Kaleidoclown'

For fun, I've drawn one of my own photos (yes, I was dressed in a clown outfit) and added a wild and crazy background to accompany it for today's practice effort. As part of sketching the piece, it was split into four sections with two opposing diagonal lines.  In terms of color choices, I've worked with color gradations for some shape sections.  Can you believe, there are five major shapes in this effort?  There really are -- circles, squares, trapezoids, triangles and spirals. I think the substrate is Biengfang Watercolor Paper (140 lb.).  The materials used were Ohuhu markers, Micron 01 pigment ink pen, some red Stickles glitter glue for the nose, and a white Posca pen (for white dots on the face and to highlight eyes) and a yellow one (for yellow dots in the center of the flowers on the hat). There was no intention in working on this piece other than to have fun...and based on how it looks, I'd say well done!.   One thing I learned is that blending with the Ohuhus i
Post a Comment
Read more

New Project in Progress

I'm working on a new project with multiple layers and shapes of different colored organzas.  It is an interpretation of lighting on an ice rink...from a show I recently saw.  There is a lot more stitching to do, but I like how its coming along.  I'm learning organzas are not easy to work with especially when you layer them and have overlaid edges.  The fabric also tends to ravel easily. This post also linked to  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com .
9 comments
Read more

A New Sharpie Drawing/Painting

This effort was done starting with a 5-minute sketch while process photos were taken along the way.  My intention was to work on color selections and to complete the jewelry/dangles to stand out without overtaking the female image (and maybe even getting a sense of dimension with their use).   This is the second project in which a straight line across the page has been added to interrupt the wavy/curved lines -- and to show that using subtle color adjustments on each side of the line.  (The first project that incorporates a line can be seen in the August 23rd post,) I'm pleased with how this came out. There are a few areas where the decoration looks sparse, but I notice it seems restful to my eye, since the balance of the Sharpie-painted areas are much busier.  What is your experience looking at it?  What draws your attention first?
Post a Comment
Read more