It’s hard to imagine two things that go together more than Disney and Mickey Mouse.

The Mouse and the Walt Disney Company have been intertwined ever since Mickey first debuted in 1928. Now, almost a full century later, the company’s copyright ownership of Mickey has come to an end…at least partially. Wait…so Disney doesn’t own Mickey anymore? HUH? What does that even mean!? We’re breaking it down.

Let’s start at the beginning

There are various laws and rules regarding the protection of certain works. According to one article published at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, “copyright law provides exclusive rights for creative works, including fictional characters that are (1) original, and (2) fixed in a tangible medium.”

Once a creator has a copyright on his or her work, he or she has exclusive rights to use and distribute that work for a period of time. What happens once that time is up? Well, generally that work will then fall into the public domain. That means it’ll be free for others to use how they want.

Disney had a copyright on the original version of Mickey Mouse and has a copyright on all those that follow.

As an article published in the Western New England Law Review notes, way back when Mickey was created, the copyright law allowed a maximum of 56 years of protection. When Mickey got close to falling into the public domain, Disney started lobbying to make some changes. That lobbying paid off and the Copyright Act of 1976 was ultimately signed by Congress. Under this Act, copyright protection for already-published corporate copyrights (like Mickey Mouse) was extended to 75 years. Works published after 1922 were entitled to a full 75 years of protection. That extended Mickey’s copyright through to 2003.

As 2003 got closer, Disney started lobbying Congress once again. That’s when we got the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, which many refer to as the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act.” Under this act, corporate copyright protection was extended from 75 years to 95 years. 

So basically every time Disney got close to having Mickey fall under public domain, they lobbied to extend protections over their copyright. And they were successful. Mickey Mouse then entered the public domain in 2024. Well, some of Mickey Mouse’s copyrights anyway…more on that in a second.

Some thought the copyright could get extended again, but that hasn’t happened so far

It was a lot easier to block copyright expiration 20 years ago. Now, with the spread of information on the internet, it’s a lot more difficult for lobbyists to go against these public domain protections.

According to Ars Technica, “three of the nation’s most powerful rightsholder groups in the country, the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, and the Authors Guild, were not even going to try to pass legislation extending copyrights.”

As of 2014, NOVA Southeastern University notes, “At the latest hearings before Congress on revisions to the Copyright Act, not one Representative and not one witness invited to testify put forth the proposition that copyright terms should be extended yet again.” 

So, what happened when Mickey Mouse hit the public domain?

Well, it’s important to note that NOT ALL of Mickey Mouse hit the public domain in 2024. 

As of 2024, “Steamboat Willie, “The Barn Dance,” and the original design of Mickey Mouse have entered the public domain in terms of copyright law. As each year passes, more films starring Mickey will enter the public domain. 

As of 2024, Disney has no copyright protection for those original films and Mickey’s original version, but they still own later designs and trademarks. 

Ars Technica raises an example of what this means. Take Mickey’s gloves. Mickey doesn’t actually wear white gloves until 1929. So, while you might be able to create a Mickey toy (featuring the original version of Mickey) on your own without any approval or authorization from Disney now that the original Mickey has hit the public domain, your toy can’t feature Mickey’s signature white gloves until 2025. Another article notes, “If you want to utilize Sorcerer Mickey, you’ll have to wait until 2036, as this particular Mickey first appeared in the 1940 film, Fantasia.” Modern Mickey looks very different from Steamboat Mickey.

Still, if creators can walk that line effectively, it appears it is legal to create new creative works based on the original Mickey. Others can even sell toys and other merchandise without authorization from the copyright holder — Disney. And they have. Once the original version of Mickey hit the public domain in 2024, people quickly used it. In one instance, he appeared on a promo for a late-night talk show. Specifically, as Variety reports, in a teaser for “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” Oliver posed next to someone in a costume that resembled Steamboat Willie’s Mickey. A poster for the show’s upcoming season read, “What are they gonna do, sue?”

As you can see, Mickey isn’t wearing white gloves like we mentioned before. But that’s not all. A new HORROR movie starring Steamboat Willie called Mickey’s Mouse Trap is also being created. You can watch the trailer (at your own risk) below.

A horror Mickey video game is also in the works called Infestation: Origins. Even Adult Swim jumped in on the action.

CLICK HERE to read about some of the ways Mickey was desecrated the first week he entered the public domain!

But, trademark complicates things

BUT, even though the original Mickey Mouse is in the public domain, it isn’t as simple as it might sound. Disney owns trademark rights to Mickey Mouse, which don’t expire in the way that copyright does. According to NOVA South Eastern University, “Trademark law protects words, phrases, and symbols used to identify the source of the products or services. Copyright protects works of artistic expression from being copied.”

Mickey Mouse is used heavily by Disney to identify the fact that Disney is the source of a particular product. Some argue that while the old Mickey Mouse cartoons will fall into public domain, trademark may save Mickey himself.

In an article posted by Temple University, Donald P. Harris (associate dean for academic affairs and diversity, equity and inclusion liaison at the Beasley School of Law) explained, “trademark law is designed to prevent consumer confusion about the source of the work. So if someone else creates something else based on Steamboat Willie and people might confuse it as coming from Disney, then Disney has a potential trademark infringement suit.”

Harris went on to note that there are limitations to trademark. “You can’t use another’s mark if doing so would cause consumers to confuse the source of the second work. That test of consumer confusion is tricky and somewhat subjective. For example, if someone makes a slasher movie of Steamboat Willie, are people really going to be confused that it’s coming from Disney? I would think not, but who knows.”

In an article shared by Northeastern, Alexandra Roberts, a Northeastern University law and media professor, explained that trademark applies to things you can buy in a store, things that use Mickey Mouse to “show that something is associated with Disney.” So, Roberts explained, if someone takes a version of Mickey that’s a little different and puts it on bottled water or another product then Disney might argue that people will be confused — perhaps a consumer will think that Disney authorized this random person to sell that product or that Disney licensed the Mickey mark to that person. That could enable Disney to stop third parties from selling merchandise with Mickey Mouse on it, despite him being in the public domain in terms of copyright.

The Northeastern article also shares that you can’t “tarnish a famous trademark in a way that harms the mark’s reputation.” That could be another avenue for Disney to use to protect their character. Ultimately, it’ll be up to the courts (if any lawsuits on the matter are filed) to determine just what will and won’t be ok in this situation.

One interesting example of the use of trademark law is Tarzan. The first Tarzan stories are now public domain, but you don’t see rival stories of Tarzan because the heirs of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the creator of Tarzan, obtained a trademark on the name “Tarzan.” So far, they’ve been able to use this trademark as a way to prevent unowned works.

According to NOVA South Eastern University, “Disney has…obtained 19 different trademark registrations for the words “Mickey Mouse,” including live-action and animated television shows, cartoon strips, comic books, theme parks, and computer games.

Disney also has trademark registrations for Mickey’s visual appearance for animated and live-action motion picture films.” The NOVA article notes that Disney’s Trademark is possibly more for the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey than the modern Mickey. So basically, Disney isn’t handing Mickey over to the world without at least a little tool they might be able to use if the right situation arose. 

The next years may feature many legal battles surrounding trademark law between Disney and others attempting to use the original version of Mickey Mouse. If these cases arise, legal rulings that result from the cases could give Disney more protection over the Mouse, at least in certain circumstances. 

Mickey isn’t the only Disney character that has entered the public domain though. According to Fortune, Winnie the Pooh entered the public domain in 2022. And quickly after, a horror movie was made.

Disney has trademarked the bear but is not the original creator so they may have less standing on protecting the use of Pooh than they have with Mickey. And if you were wondering, Mickey’s leading lady, Minnie, debuted at the same time as Mickey. So her original version also went into the public domain as of 2024. According to Perdue Global, “Creators are now free to use the earliest versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Peter Pan, and Tigger.” Pluto, Goofy, and Donald Duck will enter the public domain soon after Mickey and Minnie. 

It sure will be interesting to see how Disney plans to navigate “public domain Mickey.” We’ll definitely be following along with the situation. Stay tuned to stay in the loop on what happens. 

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What do you think about this situation? Tell us in the comments!