Intellectual property expert says that, despite the change, the character cannot be used commercially
Since the first day of 2024, one of Disney’s most iconic characters has entered the public domain in the United States. This happened because the rights to ‘Steamboat Willie’, the 1928 film in which Mickey Mouse first appeared, expired after 95 years.
With this, from now on, any company or person will be able to copy or reuse or adapt ‘Steamboat Willie’ and the animation ‘Plane Crazy’, and, above all, the first versions of Mickey and Minnie, which are different from what is known today of the characters.
Mickey joined a list of characters that are already in the public domain, including Winnie the Pooh (since 2022), the latest Sherlock Holmes stories. In the coming years, others will also fall into the public domain, such as Donald Duck, Superman, Batman, among others.
Disney, in turn, informed that it intends to continue protecting copyrights on the most current versions of Mickey and Minnie. “We will, of course, continue to protect our rights in the most modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright,” said the company in an official statement shared with BBC News.
Professor at ESPM and specialist in branding and intellectual property, Gustavo Cesrio explains that, even if Disney, in the future, no longer holds the copyright on any version of Mickey, no one will be able to use it commercially, he said.
“In other words, a cartoon, a film or a game can even be created with the version of Mickey in the public domain, but merchandising items with this version of Mickey cannot be sold,” he said.
Public domain in the USA and Brazil
In the United States, copyright law regarding the use of characters is 95 years old. But it was not always so. On some occasions, Disney itself went to American court to avoid losing Mickey’s exclusivity.
The legislation has undergone some changes over the years. The first of them took place in 1909, which provided for a period of 56 years. In 1976, however, the term was extended to 75 years and, finally, in 1998, another project increased it to 95 years.
In Brazil, legislation on the subject provides that the author’s property rights last for 70 years after death. According to Law 9,610 / 1998, copyright is valid for the author’s entire life, plus 70 years after his death.
