For some, the new year is a time of change and self-reinvention. For Disney fanatics, Jan 1, 2024, marked the lapse of the short film Steamboat Willie’s 95-year copyright under the entertainment conglomerate, meaning Mickey Mouse is in the public domain.
The public domain is a copyright-free zone of public ownership in which the creator no longer owns the product. For works published before 1978, something that applies to Mickey Mouse, copyright lasts for 95 years, an extension of the original 75 years due, in large part, to the work of lobbyists for the Walt Disney Corporation in passing the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act (yes, the Sonny Bono of Cher fame), in an attempt to prevent the lapsing of the mouse’s copyright, set to run out in 2004 at the time. For works published after ‘78, copyright lasts until the artist's death, plus 70 years. Both criteria are pretty limiting, something not intended initially for copyright (it originally lasted only 28 years). Once copyright has lapsed on a work, it is in the public domain, so the general public can use it in its basic form (not a parody or criticism, which does not have copyright under Fair Use) for their own money-making endeavors. But don’t start making your Mickey Mouse t-shirts just yet.