The earliest version of Mickey Mouse will enter the public domain on January 1st, marking a significant moment in Disney’s history.
Mickey Mouse, the iconic fi – oh, you don’t need a refresher on who Mickey Mouse is? Well, the Disney mascot is about to head into the public domain…under certain specifications. In short, you won’t be seeing him and Goofy slashing their way through Disney World anytime soon…
As U.S. copyright law says a work can enter the public domain 95 years after its publication, a form of Mickey Mouse will be made available for use by anyone. This chiefly concerns Steamboat Willie, which is generally considered the debut of Mickey Mouse, although Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho were both produced prior to the landmark short. As such, those films will also be in the public domain.
But the Mickey Mouse of Steamboat Willie is most definitely not the same as the Mickey Mouse we all identify. The 1928 version has more rat-like features, with an elongated nose, smaller eyes and probably some form of hantavirus. So it’s the creepier one that, come January 1st, you can do whatever you’d like with.
But Steamboat Willie isn’t the only significant work entering the public domain when the clock strikes midnight. There, too, will be Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc and Charlie Chaplin’s The Circus, which of course opens up the possibility of a Super Smash Bros.-esque showdown between Mickey Mouse, Joan of Arc and The Little Tramp.
The Walt Disney Company has long been protective of Mickey Mouse, even forcing day care centers to take down their beloved characters from display. Unfortunately for those looking to turn a buck off of the character – or, you know, just bring some extra joy to kids’ days – this won’t be a watershed moment the way it may seem at first. As one Disney spokesperson put it, “More modern versions of Mickey will remain unaffected by the expiration of the Steamboat Willie copyright, and Mickey will continue to play a leading role as a global ambassador for the Walt Disney Company in our storytelling, theme park attractions, and merchandise…We will, of course, continue to protect our rights in the more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain subject to copyright.”
Open use of intellectual properties hit a pop culture high last year when A.A. Milne’s first Winnie-the-Pooh book entered the public domain, launching a horror movie from Rhys Frake-Waterfield. And yes, he is building an entire cinematic universe around such properties.
Mickey Mouse has appeared in well over 100 shorts, most recently the Oscar-nominated Get a Horse!, which drew heavy inspiration from his earliest films.