What Does Disney Say About Mickey Mouse Becoming Public Domain on January 1?

After nearly a century, Mickey Mouse will enter the public domain on Monday, more than 95 years after the initial release of Steamboat Willie, the first animated short featuring the character. When he was first created, U.S. copyright law only allowed for a total of 56 years of copyright protection -- 28 years, and then another 28 year extension after that -- before a work lapsed into the public domain, where it can be republished and iterated upon by any artist who wants to do so. Disney, Warner Bros., and other large corporations lobbied aggressively to change copyright laws in order to benefit themselves and other corporations that hold copyrights nearing their natural expiration date in 1978, leading to the current rules.

Mickey's first appearance was in the 1928 animated short Steamboat Willie, which will lapse into the public domain at the end of 2023 along with Plane Crazy, the character's second appearance and the first cartoon to feature Minnie Mouse. The version of Mickey that will become public domain is that associated with Willie and Plane Crazy -- a black-and-white image in which he has solid black eyes, no gloves, and long, skinny limbs. Later iterations of Mickey will still be protected by copyright.

"Ever since Mickey Mouse's first appearance in the 1928 short film Steamboat Willie, people have associated the character with Disney's stories, experiences, and authentic products," Disney said in a statement last year (via Cartoon Brew). "That will not change when the copyright in the Steamboat Willie film expires. 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, and we will work to safeguard against consumer confusion caused by unauthorized uses of Mickey and our other iconic characters."

Disney has also signaled that they will use trademark law to minimize what others can do with Mickey. .Unlike copyright, trademarks never expire, as long as they remain in use and registered. Since Mickey is the company's mascot, Disney has kept that trademark up for decades, but the Supreme Court has previously ruled that companies cannot use trademarks as an end-run around the public domain, so Disney's remedies under trademark law will be limited.

The purpose of trademark is to avoid brand confusion, so the best way for anyone hoping to use Mickey without Disney's permission will be to make it abundantly clear that their product is not affiliated or endorsed by Disney. 

If you're a comic book fan, you might recognize this as the Shazam! issue: once the initial trademark on the name "Captain Marvel" lapsed, Marvel snatched it up and created a character to apply it to. That means DC can still call the Big Red Cheese "Captain Marvel" if they want, but they can't do it in a way that could potentially confuse the audience. For years, that meant keeping the name "Captain Marvel" off of comic book covers, opting for the name "Shazam" on the front while keeping his identity intact inside. For reasons likely connected to marketing the planned movie, DC changed this policy and totally renamed the character in 2011.

Another character made famous by Disney, Tigger, is set to enter the public domain on Monday as well, when the 95-year period lapses on the A. A. Milne story that introduced him. After Winnie-The-Pooh entered the public domain, the character was incorporated into a slasher movie, and a new, non-Disney animated series went into development with an art style more similar to Milne's original books.