Mickey Mouse, arguably the most iconic character not only for Disney, but the whole world, is now in the public domain as 2024 marked the 96th year since the character’s creation and the end of its copyright protection.
Copyright protections allowed Disney to strike down any use of Mickey. It gave Disney the sole right to print, publish, perform, film, or record the Mouse unless they gave permission.
Disney has tried long and hard to protect Mickey Mouse from public domain. The most notable attempt was the accordingly titled, “Mickey Mouse Protection Act of 1988.” Here, they were able to extend the copyright protections from 70 years, to 95 years after its publication.
Despite Disney’s efforts, it all ended in vain as Mickey Mouse entered the public domain in 2024, when the 95 year copyright protection ended.
Aeden Jacob Perez ’24 said, “This is big, not just for Disney, but the world.”
One important detail to note is that not all of Mickey Mouse is in the public domain. Mickey Mouse has multiple versions created such as Fantasmic or Mickey Mouse Club. The ones available for public exploitation include Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy Mickey since they were released in 1928.
Disney fanatic Maureen Vera Cruz stated, “I just hope that people respect Mickey.”
Exploit these Mickeys the public domain did, and some with a lack of respect. They used the versions of Mickey in horror films, shooter games, and even made him use profanity.
Not all of the spins of public domain Mickey are negative. One notable use of Steamboat Mickey is by the famous company MSCHF. They knew of the copyright expiration and had pre-orders set in 2021 for a Mickey Mouse collectible token called MSCHF x Famous Mouse. They released the product right when the copyright expired. The token had words saying “Do not peel until 2024,” which shows their knowledge of the expiration.
Vera Cruz remarked, “That’s the fun part of being able to use Mickey. You can be very creative with things like that. But hopefully they don’t go overboard.”
With the interesting creations of Steamboat Mickey, it leaves in question what the future holds for the iconic mouse.
Vera Cruz expressed her negative concerns on the matter, “[Younger generations] are gonna see these different versions that don’t portray Mickey the way he actually is…You have to be hopeful that they don’t fall into that belief and they know the true meaning behind what he represents.”
Anton Carranceja ’24 expressed a more positive outlook: “This is great news for content creators because they can appreciate and honor Mickey and have fun making cool things with him without worrying about copyright infringement.”
