ARTICLE
11 January 2024
Contributor
Established in 2004, Naik Naik & Co. started out as a niche media practice which has metamorphosed into a full-service law firm. Headquartered in Mumbai with a pan-India presence, we advise and perform across all aspects of corporate, disputes, banking and finance, and intellectual property law. Our sectoral focus is our differentiator and we can boast of strong industry sector expertise for over two decades. Our practice is anchored in quality service, professionalism, and integrity.
Explore Firm Details
Steamboat Willie, the 1928 version of Disney's most iconic characters, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, entered the public domain on January 1, 2024.
United States Florida Intellectual Property
To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
Steamboat Willie, the 1928 version of Disney'smost iconic characters, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, entered thepublic domain on January 1, 2024. These works can now legally beshared, performed, reused, repurposed or sampled. These earlyversions of Mickey and Minnie are just two of the characters thatare entering the public domain. In the coming decades, it will beincreasingly difficult for big studios like Disney and WarnerBrothers to manage as well as preserve intellectual property rightsworth billions. For instance, Superman, Batman, Donald Duck andJames Bond are some of the well known characters that are set toenter public domain this very decade!
In this article we shall examine what this development means forDisney's Copyright on Mickey Mouse and how the general publicmay or may not use theSteamboatWillieversion.
Mickey Mouse Protection Act
Under the US Copyright Act of 1976, copyright would last for thelife of the author plus 50 years, or 75 years from publication or100 years after creation, whichever is shorter for a work ofcorporate authorship (works made for hire) and anonymous andpseudonymous works. The 1976 Act also increased the renewal termfor works copyrighted before 1978 that had not already entered thepublic domain from 28 years to 47 years, giving a total term of 75years.
Thereafter, the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, also knownas the Mickey Mouse Protection Act, extended these terms to life ofthe author plus 70 years and for works of corporate authorship to95 years from publication or 120 years after creation, whicheverend is earlier. Whereas, for works published before January 1,1978, the 1998 act extended the renewal term from 47 years to 67years, granting a total of 95 years.
In other words, these characters that have entered public domainrecently, were first set to do so in 1984 but as is welldocumented, Disney lobbied aggressively and got the United StatesCongress to pass a law extending the term by 20 years. Followingthis before the next deadline for expiry of copyright on thesecharacters, which was owned by Disney came up in 2004, the USCongress dutifully passed another 20-year extension.
It is important to note what Jennifer Jenkins, director of theDukes Centre for the Study of the Public Domain, told the BBC, shesaid-
“Disney still separately holds a trademark on MickeyMouse as a brand identifier and a corporate mascot. That meansthere are still limits on how the public can use these images. WhatI cannot do is start making merchandise and the same kinds ofproducts that Disney sells.”
One must point out that this is not the only film featuring thecharacters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse to have entered the publicdomain, not technically anyway. BeforeSteamboatWillie, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks directed a silent filmcalledPlane Crazyin 1928 which marked thefirst appearance of the character Mickey and his girlfriendMinnie.Plane Crazywas later released as asound cartoon in 1929. The silent version of this film entered thepublic domain this year along with theSteamboatWillieversion and the sound version of the film willremain copyrighted until next year in January 2025.
Possible Iterations of Steamboat Willie
On January 1, 2022Winnie the Pooh, another one ofDisney's famous characters entered public domain and much toDisney's dismay, a low-budget horror film entitled,‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey' was soonreleased in theatres and received considerable attention. Thecharacter ofWinnie The Pooh or Pooh theBearwas actually created by English author AA Milnealong with illustrator EH Shepard. In 1961, the Walt Disney Companylicensed certain film and other rights ofWinnie ThePoohstories from the estate of AA Milne and turned itinto an extremely profitable franchise.
Within months of the character entering public domain, thetrailer for horror flick “Winnie The Pooh; Blood &Honey” was out in August the same year. Surely enough,in similar fashion, two separate trailers of movies based ontheSteamboat Willieversion of Mickey havealready been released. These movies presumably featurere-interpreted versions of Mickey Mouse. If pictures online are tobe believed, one is a horror movie and features a scary lookingversion of Mickey Mouse!
What is also significant is that Disney already filed acopyright claim against YouTuber and voice actor Brock Baker whouploaded the original animated short film Steamboat Willie andremixed his own comedic audio track playing over the cartoon.Baker, who has over a million subscribers on YouTube, uploaded thevideo under the name ‘Steamboat Willie'(Brock's dub). As soon as he was hit by Disney'sclaim, the upload was demonetised immediately and the claim alsoprevented him from uploading the video on third party websites.However, in a surprising move, after considering the validity ofBaker's case, Disney decided to withdraw the claim. Bakerreceived the following email from YouTube: “Good News! Afterreviewing your dispute Disney has decided to release theircopyright claim on your YouTube video.” As a result of this,the video is now monetizable and can be viewed worldwide.
While this is a significant step on Disney's part, it isalso surprising because the studio has enjoyed a very differentreputation as far as protecting it's intellectual property isconcerned. In December last year, the New York Times reported thatDisney once forced a day care centre in the State of Florida toremove a mural of Minnie Mouse as it was unauthorized. Even oncetelling a stonemason that carving Winnie The Pooh into achild's gravestone would ‘violate it'scopyright'.
As far as other possible future iterations oftheSteamboat Willieversion of Mickey Mouse areconcerned, we must also understand that the version that hasentered the public domain is a black and white version and is verydifferent from the present day iterations of Mickey and Minnie thatwe see today. Moreover, Disney continues to retain the rights tonewer versions of these works making it more difficult for someoneto author works that are iterations of theSteamboatWillieversion but are entirely different fromDisney's characters.
The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.
