It was the animation that brought “House of Mouse” (Mickey's Club TV series) to life. Steamboat Willie, a 1928 short film featuring early dialoguefree versions of Mickey and Minnie, is widely considered the moment that changed Disney's fortunes and made film history.
His images are now available to the public in the United States after Disney's copyright expired.
This means that creative professionals such as cartoonists can now rework and use early versions of Mickey and Minnie.
In fact, anyone can use these versions without permission or costs.
However, Disney has warned that more modern versions of Mickey are still protected by copyright.
“We will of course continue to protect our rights to more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright,” the company said.
US copyright law states that rights to characters can be maintained for 95 years, meaning the Steamboat Willie characters entered the public domain this Monday, January 1, 2024.
These works can now be legally shared, performed, reused, reproportioned or sampled.
Early versions of Mickey and Minnie are just two of the works that entered the public domain in the United States on New Year's Day.
Other famous films, books, songs and characters from 1928 are now available to American audiences.
These include Charlie Chaplin's silent romantic comedy “The Circus”; the book A Casa no Largo Puff by English author AA Milne, which introduced the character Tigrão; Orlando by Virginia Woolf; and Lady Chatterley's Lover by DH Lawrence.
Brazil has its own copyright regulations and different expiration dates (see below for more information).
Disney has faced the possibility of losing copyright to its original cartoons several times in the past.
The characters were originally expected to enter the public domain in 1984, but Congress extended the deadline for another 20 years.
A further 20year extension was approved before the next expiry date in 2004.
“Deeply symbolic”
Disney's efforts to protect its characters even led to the law being dubbed the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act.” But the moment has finally come.
Jennifer Jenkins, director of Duke University's Center for Public Domain Studies, told the BBC it was a “deeply symbolic and longawaited” milestone.
“What this means to us is that starting in 2024, everyone will have the freedom to copy, share and build upon these original 1928 cartoons and the characters within them,” she said.
Jenkins emphasized that the timing is particularly important given Disney's “alleged role” in extending the copyright term, which prevented its properties from entering the public domain for so long.
Free reproduction in Brazil?
In Brazil, copyright law stipulates that the author's economic rights continue for 70 years after his death. The work then enters the public domain.
The protection provided by Brazilian legislation is consistent with the Berne Convention, an international treaty that establishes standards for the protection of copyright in literary and artistic works.
In Brazil, according to Law No. 9,610/1998, copyright lasts for the entire life of the author and for another 70 years after his death. This period is referred to as the “protection period”.
Protection in Brazil is governed by the law of the country in which the protection is requested, provided that reciprocity is guaranteed. This means that Brazilian and foreign works have the same protection period of 70 years.
In the case of Mickey Mouse, whose copyright is protected in the United States for 95 years, the first version in Brazil will not enter the public domain until 2042 due to coauthorship and the death of the last coauthor in 1971. pursuant to Article 42 of the Copyright Law.
In the United States, Disney still has its own trademark for Mickey as a brand identity and company mascot. This means that there are still limits to how these images can be used by the public, explains Jenkins.
“What I can’t do is start making merchandise and the same types of products that Disney sells,” she said.
“So if I sell tshirts with Mickey and Minnie on them and someone who sees those tshirts mistakenly thinks they are purchasing a Disney product when they are not, then the trademark stops.”
Therefore, any use of Mickey Mouse that creates the impression that he belongs to a brand other than Disney would still be trademarked.
Jack Kendall, a 32yearold digital content creator from Warwickshire who runs a Disney news explainer YouTube channel, believes someone might be trying to treat Mickey and Minnie like a horror film.
He compared this to the moment when Winnie the Pooh (or Pooh, in some versions of the Portuguese translations) entered the public domain and was converted into the Xrated horror film. Blood and Honey was ranked by critics as one of the worst films of the year.
Kendall, who has more than 168,000 subscribers to her DSNY Newscast channel, believes Disney wants to avoid further litigation because the company has become “a political bone of contention in pop culture.”
“But they also want to protect their two most famous characters,” he told the BBC.
He believes that Disney's active use of branded versions of Steam Willie merchandise, new animated shorts, and even a theater studio logo is “Disney's way of protecting the characters when they want to take the legal route in a use case.” Way”.
A Disney spokesman said people have associated the character with the company since Mickey Mouse's first appearance in 1928.
“This will not change when the copyright to The Vapor Wille expires,” they said.
“More modern versions of Mickey will not be affected by the Steam Willie copyright expiration, and Mickey will continue to play a prominent role as a global ambassador for The Walt Disney Company in our storytelling, theme park attractions and merchandise.”
The company added that it will work to prevent consumer confusion caused by unauthorized use of Mickey and its other iconic characters.
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