By: Cassidy Crawford, Staff Writer
A recognizable figure to most, Mickey Mouse turned 95 on November 18th.1 The lovable and nostalgic mouse made his first appearance in the 1928 animated short Steamboat Willie, directed by Walt Disney himself and breaking ground as one of the earliest animated cartoons.2 However, this version of Mickey is much different than the versions of him that we are used to seeing today.3 For one thing, Mickey was portrayed only in black and white in his first big screen appearance, so he lacked the usual red shorts and dimension that we are so used to seeing in vibrant color.4 His big white oval eyes with pupils that we are also used to seeing were represented as small black ovals in the original interpretation of Mickey as well.5 This Mickey was less cuddly and more nefarious, forcing barnyard animals to act as unwilling musical instruments.6 Celebrating 95 years of a figure that represents a brand so strongly raises the interesting topic of copyright trademarks, and Mickey Mouse in the public domain.7
The “public domain” is the term that is commonly used to refer to content that is not protected.8 Creations can enter the public domain when the duration of copyright in the work has expired, the work did not include a proper copyright notice prior to March of 1989, or for several other reasons.9 Disney did much to prolong the inevitable addition of Mickey Mouse to the public domain with his 95th birthday this year, pushing for the law that extended the copyright term to 95 years.10 This became known as the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act” and while Mickey Mouse and Disney were big names of this effort, there were other lobbying groups invested in this extension as well.11 However, Disney could not keep Mickey copyrighted forever, and the Steamboat Willie versions of Mickey Mouse as well as Minnie Mouse became part of the public domain on January 1, 2024.12 This means that anyone is able to do with this material what they would like (within the boundaries that follow).13
The only version of Mickey Mouse that is available for these creative liberties is the Steamboat Willie version of the mouse, not the more updated versions of him or their differing elements.14 The public is also not allowed to use this image of Mickey Mouse to confuse consumers into thinking that Disney is a producer or sponsor of their creation under trademark law.15 Mickey Mouse has not expired as a trademark, and this is an important note as Mickey has become a part of and figurehead of the Disney brand.16 Trademark rights depend on consumer perception unlike copyright law.17 Therefore, if someone were to use the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse to try to sell products, it is reasonable to believe consumers would confuse the product for something sold by Disney.18 A trademark is different from copyright in the way that trademark rights do not expire if you are using something as a “brand in commerce”.19 Disney has covered their tracks when it comes to trademarking Mickey Mouse, registering an image of Mickey Mouse with connections in many different fields such as hotel services and games.20 Creatives excited to use the Mickey Mouse image are also faced with a rule that they are not allowed to tarnish the image of the beloved, family-friendly mouse in a way that would harm its reputation.21
Disney’s desire to keep Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse available only for private use was understandable to some, but worried scholars thought that it was regressive not only to our ability to digitize, but also to our culture.22 This of course applied not only to Mickey Mouse, but to other works that were protected for longer as Disney pushed for the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act”.23 Now that Mickey has officially turned 95 on November 18, 2024, it will be interesting to watch as the years pass, and more modern versions of Mickey Mouse reach their copyright expirations. Leading us to wonder what that will mean for the Disney brand as a whole.
- https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/national-day/mickey-mouse-birthday-november-18 ↩︎
- https://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/mickey-mouse-appeared-first#:~:text=Event%20Description,animation%20technology%20with%20synchronized%20sound ↩︎
- https://www.npr.org/2024/01/01/1221606624/mickey-mouse-public-domain-disney ↩︎
- https://www.fastcompany.com/91005408/what-you-can-and-cant-do-with-mickey-mouse-now-that-its-in-the-public-domain ↩︎
- https://www.fastcompany.com/91005408/what-you-can-and-cant-do-with-mickey-mouse-now-that-its-in-the-public-domain ↩︎
- https://www.npr.org/2024/01/01/1221606624/mickey-mouse-public-domain-disney ↩︎
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/ ↩︎
- https://www.copyrightlaws.com/what-is-the-public-domain/ ↩︎
- https://www.copyrightlaws.com/what-is-the-public-domain/ ↩︎
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/ ↩︎
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/ ↩︎
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/ ↩︎
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/ ↩︎
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/ ↩︎
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/ ↩︎
- https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/01/05/mickey-mouse-public-domain-copyright-trademark/ ↩︎
- https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/01/05/mickey-mouse-public-domain-copyright-trademark/ ↩︎
- https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/01/05/mickey-mouse-public-domain-copyright-trademark/ ↩︎
- https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/01/05/mickey-mouse-public-domain-copyright-trademark/ ↩︎
- https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/01/05/mickey-mouse-public-domain-copyright-trademark/ ↩︎
- https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/01/05/mickey-mouse-public-domain-copyright-trademark/ ↩︎
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/ ↩︎
- https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/ ↩︎
