Nearly a century after his arrival on screens, the famous Mickey mouse will enter the public domain on Monday, opening the way to potential revivals, adaptations and derivative products, but also to legal battles with Disney.
The copyright for the cartoon “Willie’s Steamboat,” a 1928 black-and-white short film that introduced the general public to this rodent that became a global pop culture icon, expires on January 1, after 95 years , under American law.
A deadline well known to filmmakers, admirers, lawyers, intellectual property specialists and even directors of the Disney group, who have succeeded in the past in extending the duration of these copyrights.
“This is a deeply symbolic and highly anticipated moment,” said Jennifer Jenkins, a public domain specialist at Duke University.
Anyone will now be able to freely copy, share or adapt “Willie’s Steamboat” and “Plane Crazy” – another animated short from 1928 – as well as use the first versions of the characters appearing there, including Mickey and his companion Minnie.
Artists will thus have the right to create a “version to raise awareness of climate change” of “Willie’s Steamboat”, in which the ship runs aground on the bed of a dry river, or even a feminist version in which Minnie would hold the bar, suggests Jennifer Jenkins.
Which would be reminiscent of the latest revivals of the characters Sherlock Holmes and Winnie the Pooh, whose copyrights recently expired.
“Legal skirmishes”
But to do this, creators will have to tread carefully.
In a press release to AFP, the multinational Disney assured that it “continues to protect (its) rights on more recent versions of Mickey and on other works remaining protected by copyright”.
Later versions of the characters, including those appearing in the cartoon “Fantasia”, released in 1940, remain outside the public domain and cannot be copied without the approval of Disney.
“What’s in the public domain is this kind of scary little black-and-white animal,” says Justin Hughes, a law professor at Loyola University.
“The Mickey mouse most familiar to current generations of Americans will remain under copyright protection,” he continues, saying he expects “this will give rise to legal skirmishes.”
The character appearing in these first cartoons is a filiform and mischievous creature, quite far from the current appearance of the mascot.
Formal notices could thus be sent to creators who dare to use more recent elements of the character, such as his red shorts or his white gloves, predicts the researcher.
Furthermore, if copyright ends on January 1, this is not the case for those protecting the registered trademark.
The former prohibit unlicensed reproduction of the creative work and expire after a given period. The latter protect the source of the work against products that could mislead consumers into believing that it comes from the original creator. These rights can be renewed indefinitely.
“Guardrails”
The Disney group assured that it was “working to put in place safeguards to avoid any confusion among consumers linked to unauthorized uses of Mickey or other iconic characters”.
The company also added a scene from “Willie’s Steamboat” to the opening of all animated films produced by its studios.
“They were very smart at Disney: they realized that the best thing to do was to transform this iconic scene into a registered trademark,” notes Justin Hughes.
Thus, anyone using this image of Mickey at the helm of the ship for commercial purposes is exposed to potential legal action.
Other experts, like Jennifer Jenkins, are more optimistic about the possibilities of use linked to the public domain.
“Our Supreme Court clearly said that it was not possible to assert trademark rights to circumvent the expiration of copyright,” she recalls.
However, all experts expect future legal battles.
Anyone planning to use the Disney mascot commercially “should proceed with caution and with a lawyer,” summarizes Justin Hugues.
