Support NeoGAF

[Kadve]

Disney's earliest Mickey and Minnie Mouse enter public domain as US copyright expires

Disney's copyright on the earliest version of the cartoon characters expires in the US on 1 January.

www.bbc.com

It finally happened after years worth of lobbying by Disney in order to get the Copyright Term extended (Including the infamous "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" of 1998) but i guess they finally gave up.

Note though that Disney makes it clear though that this "only" applies to the 1928 version of Mickey mouse (whatever that means) and that the character is still trademarked. Meaning you cant sell anything featuring him if it "has a chance of being mistaken for a Disney product".

 

[Majima Everywhere System]

Can’t wait to see Steamboat Willie Slays on direct to DVD.

 

[Futaleufu]

Any youtube link yet?

 

[NecrosaroIII]

We need to reform copyright law. It's robbing society of ideas becoming part of culture as folktales did long ago.

I'm okay with it lasting the duration of the life of the author, but there isn't any reason why a corporation should own these ideas in perpetuity.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

Quick GAF post steam boat Willie torrents before Disney shuts the thread down

 

[kanjobazooie]

Shitty R-rated bloodfest movie incoming.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I’m very “who gives a shit” on this.

The character hasn’t been meaningful for decades and was never particularly interesting.

 

[Tams]

English author AA Milne's book The House at Pooh Corner, which introduced the character Tigger

This is bigger, as Winnie the Pooh works can now include the most boisterous resident of Hundred Acre Wood.

 

[E-Cat]

Enter Motorboat Willie

 

[ManaByte]

Shitty R-rated bloodfest movie incoming.

The Mickey Mouse character is still a trademark. Disney must love today because all the money their lawyers are going to rake in from edgelords not understanding what a trademark is will make up for their failing box office.

 

[nush]

Enter Motorboat Willie

 

[dorkimoe]

Not that anyone cares about this character, but I am shocked this happened. Surprised Disney couldnt pay for a change. This wont happen with the new mickey

 

[ADiTAR]

Every single piece of Disney that is based on old fairytales, folklore, etc (which means the whole lot of it) should become public domain now.

 

[jason10mm]

We are finally starting to get "real" IPs into the PD, though my understanding is that there are "groups" out there that have essentially squatted on some very popular IP (Sherlock Holmes, Conan, Tarzan, Zorro, etc) and will sue you if you use these names. My guess is Disney will just drown anyone infringing on Micky in so many lawsuits it would fund an new law school. Kinda ironic since virtually all of their best works are taken from public domain in some fashion.

We are just a few years away from the Hobbit, I think, and 10 from the early iterations of Bats and Supes. Gonna be wild.

 

[violence]

Disney was built on making movies based off public domain works. I’m curious to see what others do with the image of Mickey.

 

[Happosai]

It's for the better it finally went public domain. Walt and Roy made a fortune out of a character they didn't properly develop. Videos on this give 'old Walt' a whole lot of credit and Ub Iwerks isn't mentioned at all. Don't believe his family ended up inheriting billions either.

 

[Kadve]

We are finally starting to get "real" IPs into the PD, though my understanding is that there are "groups" out there that have essentially squatted on some very popular IP (Sherlock Holmes, Conan, Tarzan, Zorro, etc)

Sadly true. Though in most of these cases its a matter of "Trademark vs Copyright" and how the former is still valid.

 

[ManaByte]

I’m curious to see what others do with the image of Mickey.

Get sued. They trademarked Steamboat Willie as the Walt Disney Animation Studios logo several years ago.

 

[Happosai]

Get sued. They trademarked Steamboat Willie as the Walt Disney Animation Studios logo several years ago.

This news has shown me 3 things:

1. People don't know these early animations were Ub Iwerks cartoons he made for Disney and was never fully credited for.

2. Most do not understand public domain can be conditional.

3. Not knowing the difference between copyright and trademark.

 

[AJUMP23]

I’m making steam train willie right now.

 

[Happosai]

I’m making steam train willie right now.

Not so fast 'Mickey's Choo Choo' is 1929. Going to have to ask you to wait till next year = p

 

[Kamina]

 

[MrTroubleMaker]

lol disney with their multiple copyright and trademarks on the same thing. whoever is going to try to use it will get sued.

 

[MAtgS]

Any youtube link yet?

A bunch have shown up on my recommendations page:

 

[Darkmakaimura]

Lmao.

 

[CGNoire]

We are finally starting to get "real" IPs into the PD, though my understanding is that there are "groups" out there that have essentially squatted on some very popular IP (Sherlock Holmes, Conan, Tarzan, Zorro, etc) and will sue you if you use these names. My guess is Disney will just drown anyone infringing on Micky in so many lawsuits it would fund an new law school. Kinda ironic since virtually all of their best works are taken from public domain in some fashion.

We are just a few years away from the Hobbit, I think, and 10 from the early iterations of Bats and Supes. Gonna be wild.

I think Conan in 2025 IIRC.

 

[Kadve]

lol disney with their multiple copyright and trademarks on the same thing. whoever is going to try to use it will get sued.

Nah. Disney has a way more effective method when it comes to dealing with these kinds of things. Completely ignore it.

Ever heard of Escape from Tomorrow? Its an indie horror movie shot completely in secret at Disneyland/World and even got a theatrical release. But due to Disney denying it any publicity it means practically noone has heard of it.

 

[Dirk Benedict]

Disney's earliest Mickey and Minnie Mouse enter public domain as US copyright expires

Disney's copyright on the earliest version of the cartoon characters expires in the US on 1 January.

www.bbc.com

It finally happened after years worth of lobbying by Disney in order to get the Copyright Term extended (Including the infamous "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" of 1998) but i guess they finally gave up.

Note though that Disney makes it clear though that this "only" applies to the 1928 version of Mickey mouse (whatever that means) and that the character is still trademarked. Meaning you cant sell anything featuring him if it "has a chance of being mistaken for a Disney product".

Mistaken as a Disney product?! Lmao! He's literally the first iteration of Mickey Mouse. They know what they are doing.

 

[dorkimoe]

‘Steamboat Willie’ Horror Film Announced as Mickey Mouse Enters Public Domain

'Steamboat Willie' is about to be adapted as a horror film, now that Mickey Mouse is in the public domain.

variety.com

 

[Kadve]

‘Steamboat Willie’ Horror Film Announced as Mickey Mouse Enters Public Domain

'Steamboat Willie' is about to be adapted as a horror film, now that Mickey Mouse is in the public domain.

variety.com

Yea that was quick. And the funny thing is that they probably could have sold it as as satire and thereby bypass the whole Copyright thing altogether.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

I’m very “who gives a shit” on this.

The character hasn’t been meaningful for decades and was never particularly interesting.

Then you haven’t read the right comic books

America did a splendid job of completely dropping the ball on Mickey when Disney found its success in full feature films, but Europe has been busy creating some amazing Disney comics for the last 60 years.

 

[Happosai]

Then you haven’t read the right comic books

America did a splendid job of completely dropping the ball on Mickey when Disney found its success in full feature films, but Europe has been busy creating some amazing Disney comics for the last 60 years.

The ball was dropped longer ago than most Americans realize with Mickey Mouse. When the Ub Iwerks shorts & comics stopped and the last of the short b & w features were produced; they lost context of the character completely.

I think it was when Disney lost the rights to Laugh-o-Grams that he took a small team to work on Oswald (which they likewise lost rights to for nearly a century); then thought up 'Mickey'. Ub Iwerks was the guy behind the design and pen. They had a few comics go into the papers back then and surprised there's never been an official book documenting this (likely Disney trying to redact more of Iwerks' history). Walt Disney did write stories for some of these but it go to a point of competition with other studios (particularly Fleischer studios) to where you stopped seeing Ub's name on the title card of the early shorts. I mean, you can read his story but even after leaving and later rejoining; Disney saw the character as becoming the mascot for the company and wasn't going to share that with anyone.

Anyway, TL;DR...they could check out those comics or, given it's public domain...I don't mind taking Ub's original model sheets to make a family targeted comic. Funny thing too, had the character Mickey not become so famous...it would have likely been forgotten. As referenced, Disney did get the rights back to Ub & Walt's 'Oswald the Lucky Rabbit'. Despite having a couple shorts on Disney + and a few others floating around on old public domain DVDs; no one really seems to know what the character is. Some aren't aware it exists.

Oh...found this from a KC site but this was from Iwerk's model sheet. I don't think Disney himself ever released his drawing publicly or if Ub just redrew it from the original.

 

[Delphisage]

First YTP to the trigger?

 

[Alebrije]

Here in México the most known use of Mikey 1.0 is on Tren Maya (Maya Train)..

For promotion.

 

[Blade2.0]

I blame the cycle of reboots on this, actually. 40 years it should have been in the public domain, anyone could have been using these characters, Superman, Spiderman, etc. but instead the corporations get to hold onto them with an iron grip. No need to think up better characters, we'll just reuse the ones we've got in perpetuity. I'm very glad that they didn't try to extend it even further, maybe now that they can't rest on their laurels for 40 more years, they'll start thinking of new IPs.