As of January 1, 2024, the Mickey Mouse character, in its original version, will no longer be protected by U.S. copyright. It is a date that should have initially arrived in 1984, but that Disney fought as much as possible to prolong it and surround it with safeguards.
Disney lose Mickey Mouse exclusivity
Specifically, this means that now anyone can create their own version of these short films and, above all, most importantly, take one of their characters, Mickey Mouse, or Minnie Mouse, as many animated film artists did in 2013, under the leadership of Disney itself.
This is a very symbolic date in the field of intellectual property: as of January 1, 2024, Mickey Mouse, one of the world's best-known fictional characters, becomes public domain.
More precisely, it is the first two appearances of this character, two short films from 1928, Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy, which, 95 years after their release, have entered the public domain.
Mickey Mouse 2024: The older version will not be protected
But, above all, because this arrival in the public domain only affects the 1928 versions of the mouse.
And the Mickey of those years does not exactly resemble the one we know today: in black and white, he does not yet have his red shorts, which did not arrive until the mid-1930s and above all he does not have white gloves, which make it impossible to distinguish his fingers, the gloves did not appear until 1929. In Plane Crazy, he even has large eyes that are more human-like than we know today.
Thus, any other version of the character, and in particular the best known, the one wearing red pants and yellow shoes, or the one appearing in Fantasia, dressed in a red tunic and a blue pointed hat, is always protected by copyright, for at least 11 more years.
