Author: Huang Ying
On January 1, 2024, the image of Mickey Mouse, created by Walt Disney in 1928, entered the public domain after reaching the 95-year copyright protection period in the United States.
In 1928, the first Mickey Mouse appeared in a film called "Steamboat Willie" and quickly became a global hit.
Steamboat Willie and the creation of manuscripts
However, at that time, the law in the United States only provided for 56 years of copyright protection, which means that the image of Mickey Mouse would have lost its protection in 1984.
Disney began lobbying efforts to extend the protection period of this famous IP. Finally, in the Copyright Act of 1976, Congress amended it to extend copyright protection to 75 years, and all works published after 1922 enjoyed 75 years of protection, so that Mickey Mouse's protection was extended until 2003.
But that's not all.
As 2003 approached, Disney began lobbying Congress again, and finally the 1998 "Copyright Term Extension Act" was passed, and copyright protection was extended from 75 years to 20 years to 95 years, which will expire at the end of 2023.
Therefore, some people also ridiculed the "Copyright Term Extension Act" as the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act".
However, it should be noted that the copyright that entered the public domain this time is only the image of Mickey Mouse in 1928, and Disney has since applied for many Mickey Mouse copyrights, which are still protected by law.
来源：Copyrightlately
So, does that mean that the public can freely and freely use the 1928 Mickey Mouse image?
I'm afraid there will be many more legal "pitfalls".
In addition to Mickey Mouse's copyright, Disney has also been working on trademarks, including reality shows, cartoons, comics, theme parks and computer games, as well as trademarks for Mickey Mouse's visual appearance.
Therefore, some people believe that Disney is trying to continue to obtain intellectual property protection for Mickey Mouse with an overlapping strategy of "copyright + trademark", because the trademark does not automatically expire.
Ruth Okediji, a professor at Harvard Law School, has said Disney and other companies use trademarks to expand control over intellectual property. As long as the trademark remains distinct in the supply of goods and services, the trademark owner can protect the trademark.
In response to this problem, Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Center for Public Domain Studies at Duke University in the United States, suggested that the original 1928 version should be used and no subsequent copyright elements should be included, such as the later Mickey Mouse wearing white gloves.
He also advises against using works from Disney productions, which could raise questions about trademark law, and that it is best to use them with a conspicuous disclaimer that the work was not produced, endorsed, licensed, or approved by Disney.
It is rumored that Disney can continue to use trademarks for protection after the copyright expires. Professor Jennifer Jenkins also made his point, arguing that "trademark law does not prevent the public from using the 1928 Mickey Mouse character unless consumers would mistakenly believe that the work was produced or sponsored by Disney." ”
He also referred to the 2003 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court (Dastar v. Twentieth Century Fox), which made it clear that a trademark cannot be used to circumvent copyright law when it expires while the trademark is still in use. Because it would "create a mutated copyright law that restricts the federal right of the public to copy and use expired copyright." In other words, trademark rights cannot be used to prevent the freedom allowed by copyright expiration, such as the use of public domain characters in new creative works.
Although Disney has been trying to expand the intellectual property protection of its own IP, many of Disney's creations come from the public domain.
For example, "Frozen" is inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen", "The Lion King" is based on Shakespeare's "Hamlet", and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" from Fantasia is from a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Notre Dame, The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid and Pinocchio are stories from Lewis Carroll, the Brothers Grimm, Victor Hugo, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Anderson and Carlo Collodi.
He suggested that Disney should continue to enjoy a rich IP portfolio while also enriching the public domain, remembering what it owes to the public domain.