Copyright wars over: Disney’s iconic ‘Mickey and Minnie’ to enter public domain in January 2024

No more copyrights issues for creators to recreate their own versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse as the characters will enter the public domain on 1st January 2024.

Mickey and Minnie Mouse were first introduced in movies like “Steamboat Willie” and the silent version of “Plane Crazy” in 1928, which is going in public domain in the US on New Year’s Day.

Putting an end to decades of copyright wars, the availability of Mickey and Minnie Mouse in public domain will mean that Disney will no longer have exclusive copyright over the characters and it came as good news for underground cartoonists, filmmakers, novelists, songwriters, who now can create what they want without getting sued.

Disney enjoyed the copyright over the characters for 95 years, which was also referred as the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act.” 

One such incident where Disney sued a creator named Dan O’Neill, who published a countercultural attack on Mickey Mouse in his underground comic book “Air Pirates Funnies” in 1971, according to Variety report.

O’Neill fought for eight-long years in court but later agreed never to draw Mickey Mouse again in his life to stay out of prison. In a phone conversation with Variety, O’Neill said, “It’s still a crime for me. If I draw a picture of Mickey Mouse, I owe Walt Disney a $190,000 fine, $10,000 more for legal fees, and a year in prison.”

Many scholars have criticized Disney’s copyright extension for being “economically regressive and having a devastating effect on our ability to digitize, archive, and gain access to our cultural heritage,” according to reports. 

On contrary, Disney has proven itself to be a skillful and prosperous practitioner in leveraging the public domain. Notably, Frozen found inspiration in Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen, while The Lion King draws from sources like Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Biblical narratives, and potentially an epic poem about the founder of the Mali Empire. Disney’s classics such as Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, and Pinocchio all originated from the works of Lewis Carroll, The Brothers Grimm, Victor Hugo, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, and Carlo Collodi.

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