[Introduction to “Steamboat Willie”]
Just over 95 years ago, Disney introduced the world to Mickey Mouse.
[Mickey Mouse whistling “Steamboat Bill” in “Steamboat Willie,” fades up then down]
We first met Mickey humming this tune at the start of the short film “Steamboat Willie.”
[Mickey Mouse continuing to whistle “Steamboat Bill”]
On January first, 2024, “Steamboat Willie” entered the public domain, as did two lesser-known films featuring Mickey Mouse. Does this mean Mickey Mouse is in the public domain?
JENNIFER JENKINS: When I say Mickey’s in the public domain, what I mean is that the copyright has expired over the 1928 films in which Mickey and Minnie first appeared.
That’s Jennifer Jenkins, clinical professor of law at Duke Law School.
Thanks to the most recent American copyright extension act, movies like “Steamboat Willie” usually have copyright terms of 95 years from their publication dates.
The version of Mickey Mouse seen in “Steamboat Willie” is now in the public domain, meaning his likeness can be used without permission from Disney. However, later versions of Mickey remain copyrighted because Disney has continued modifying his design.
Parth Mhaske, a high school junior from Plainsboro, New Jersey, watched many classic Disney movies as a child. For him, Disney and Mickey Mouse became interconnected.
PARTH MHASKE: You’d always see Mickey Mouse at the start of each of the films. In my mind, I just made a connection between Mickey [and] Disney. Mickey was just the face of Disney for me growing up.
Sam Malapati, a high school senior from Hinsdale, Illinois, also associates Disney with Mickey Mouse.
SAM MALAPATI: This was probably gonna happen anyways, like copyright – like that wouldn’t last forever anyways, but it’s been prolonged so long that the vision of Mickey Mouse has been stuck in everyone’s head for so long that people are even more eager to use it and change it.
People are already using and changing Mickey Mouse. A “Steamboat Willie” horror movie is in the works, in the same vein as last year’s “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.” And last April, comedian John Oliver announced the “Steamboat Willie” version of Mickey Mouse would become the mascot of his show “Last Week Tonight.”
Ideas, names, and familiar symbols and designs are not copyrightable. But if a new work is inspired by an older one, its new forms of expression become copyrightable. That’s according to Rebecca Tushnet, professor at Harvard Law School.
REBECCA TUSHNET: Disney’s version of “Cinderella” adds a bunch of things to the classic fairy tale version. Anybody else can do their own version of “Cinderella,” but if they use Disney’s expression, they basically need a limit or a reason in the Copyright Act if they don’t do it with permission.
[“Mad at Disney” by Salem Ilese]
Some opponents of the Copyright Term Extension Act have nicknamed it the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. Disney wasn’t the only group to support the act, but the company became associated with it.
JENKINS: You have at the same time them being symbolic of the erosion of the public domain and symbolic of the value of the public domain. And then the third part of that is Mickey Mouse, the character himself. Mickey Mouse is emblematic of both of those tendencies.
Disney will continue to own its multiple trademarks related to Mickey Mouse as long as it continues renewing them. What does this mean for people who want to create their own takes on Steamboat Willie?
TUSHNET: Trademark is supposed to protect the indication of source rather than creativity. So, you know, if you make your own “Steamboat Willie” movie and make clear that it’s coming from you and not from Disney, you should be OK.
Merchandise inspired by “Steamboat Willie” may not be protected under trademark laws if a consumer feels misled into thinking it was created or sponsored by Disney.
But trademarks cannot block people’s freedom of expression – a freedom supported by the expiration of copyrights.
JENKINS: Copyright deliberately, by design, as mandated by the Constitution, says that after quote, “limited times,” copyrighted works enter the public domain, where they can support and nurture and feed the creativity of future authors. And so it’s a yin-yang between the rights and the public domain, which is part of how the system supports and encourages creativity.
[Ending music and sounds from “Steamboat Willie”]
Mickey remains a major part of the Disney brand, but in some ways, he now belongs to the public too.
For WNUR News, I’m Edward Simon Cruz.
[Ending music and sounds from “Steamboat Willie” continue]
Clips taken from Steamboat Willie (1928), released by Walt Disney Animation Studios: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBgghnQF6E4
Music taken from “Mad at Disney” (2020) by Salem Ilese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VBEgFQZH-w
