The public domain is hot on the heels of the most venerable hero of the Disney empire.
In 2024, the first work featuring Mickey Mouse, the animated short
Steamboat Willie
, released in 1928, is expected to emerge from copyright protection and be freely available to everyone.
American copyright law, extended in 1998 to extend up to 95 years after broadcast, will soon let go of production.
Mickey “liberated, delivered”?
Yes, in theory.
But Disney is keeping watch.
As the
New York Times
reminds us, the inevitable arrival of Mickey in the public domain will not take the form of an intoxicating dive that will open the floodgates for a reappropriation at all costs of the character.
It will be rather a slow, very slow immersion.
And for good reason: only the 1928 Mickey and the associated short film will come out of Disney's copyright.
The merry Mickey from
Fantasia
will still be pacing under the protection of his company until 2036. And those who swear, for example, by the film
Mickey, Once Upon a Time Christmas
will have to wait until 2095.
All these works are certainly available for viewing on a multitude of physical or digital media – starting with the Disney+ platform.
Disney has even uploaded the eight-minute black-and-white
Steamboat Willie
on its official YouTube channel, a sign that the stakes of this particular work are not important in themselves.
The gradual entry of Disney's repertoire into the public domain will nevertheless allow everyone to appropriate these creations, or even to offer new versions.
For better or for worse.
A horrific, slasher-style adaptation of Winnie the Pooh's first book is due to be released in theaters in 2023, following the work's entry into the public domain.
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Trademark law to the rescue
Disney will nevertheless be able to rely on trademark law to restrict the most eccentric or harmful impulses to its image.
Not only has the image of Mickey been associated with the American company for decades, but
Steamboat Willie
's more mouse-specific appearance was added to its logo in 2007. Since then, every production carton from the Disney films features a small vignette taken from
Steamboat Willie
, where Mickey is seen whistling at the helm of his steamboat, immediately after the iconic sight of Disneyland castle surrounded by fireworks and orchestral notes from
When You Wish Upon a Star
.
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These choices are not the result of pure nostalgic coquetry.
Like other entertainment giants, such as Japanese Nintendo, Disney has earned a reputation over the years as a relentless tracker of copyright infringement.
In 2020, a delegated agency of the company had demanded the payment of the sum of 250 dollars to an elementary school which had broadcast
The Lion King
without authorization during a charity event.
Faced with the outcry, the president of Disney himself, Bob Iger, apologized for the accident.
"The case did not create a precedent, but it tarnished the image of the company"
, then estimated a specialized lawyer for the
Los Angeles Times
.
Artists and parodiers eager to seize Mickey, other than under the coat, will thus have to navigate a crest line that is narrow to say the least: respect the 1928 character who will fall into the public domain, without misleading their spectators as to the unofficial nature of their creation.
“We will strive to avoid consumer confusion caused by unauthorized uses of Mickey and our other iconic characters,”
Disney has already warned.
When its nest is besieged, the mouse turns into a beast.
