It’s no secret that the clock is ticking for Disney‘s copyright on Mickey Mouse is set to expire in 2024. Because, or perhaps in spite of this fact, Disney just announced a new original short called The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse: Steamboat Silly, ostensibly as a tribute to the first iteration of Disney, but also probably to remind everyone who owns the cheese in the house that Mickey built.
This particular cartoon “follows Mickey Mouse and his friends as they must stop hundreds of old film reel versions of Mickey from wreaking havoc all over town,” per Disney TV Animation News. In a clip released by Disney, modern Mickey and Steamboat Mickey jostle each other, blow things up and run around like maniacs – it looks fun!
Now to this copyright stuff. To be clear, the copyright is ending for the specific version of Mickey Mouse that appears in the 1928 animated short Steamboat Willie, not any versions after that, and none in color. That distinction is important, and means that Mickey Mouse himself is still under copyright by the company.
Copyrights were originally only supposed to last 28 years, but thanks to some creative lobbying on Disney’s part, per Spectrum News 9, that was extended to 75 years, and then 95 years. That deadline appears next year, but according to intellectual property attorney Erica Allen, “there are some limitations” to what is possible.
Disney’s copyright of the character as a whole means that it’s protected from “consumer confusion.” The idea is that people will assume Mickey Mouse art came from Disney, so if you wanted to use Steamboat Mickey “[you] couldn’t do it to a point where consumers would actually think it was Disney doing it.”
Think about “Winnie-The-Pooh,” which just entered the public domain. Soon after that happened, Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey entered the scene. Allen said that movie probably doesn’t violate trademarks because no one would assume it came from the original author.
Disney also has so many lawyers to tie anyone up for years in court if they tried to use Steamboat Mickey in something.
“I think anyone who tests the boundaries will either end up settling with Disney or wind up in a lawsuit,” Allen said.
It’s going to be even harder to use the character now that Disney’s made the smart move if reintroducing the character right before the copyright runs out. Looks like they know exactly what they’re doing over there.