Why Disney's Most Iconic Character is entering the Public Domain (Lawyer Explains)

Jake explains why after 95 years, the copyright in Mickey Mouse is entering the public domain and why Disney is going to do nothing about it.

Leave a comment on which topic you'd like us to explain next!

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00:00 Disney is losing Mickey?!
00:26 Why copyrights? In simple terms
01:39 Steamboat Willie, the OG Mickey
02:31 How do you lose a copyright?
03:29 How Mickey got 95 years of copyright protection
05:04 The Big Mouse lobby
07:12 Disney's one big mistake
08:54 Why Disney isn't doing anything this time
12:40 Disney the Behemoth
13:53 That whole Trademark thing
14:24 Where we go from here

[DismemberTheAlamo]

What theyve done is effectively, let their star player go free agent....
Because now they own the league.

[PalmelaHanderson]

I still think the idea that Disney was able to keep extending copyright law is bonkers. The 56 year mark was decided in part because, after 56 years, the original creator would likely be dead. Sure enough, the original creator of Mickey Mouse, Ubi Iwerks, died in 1971. But Disney comes along and says "it was made under our umbrella, so we should still own it" which sends you down the rabbit hole of "corporations are the same as people in the eyes of the law, except when they're not." Corporations have the same rights as people when it benefits them, but are not people when it would lead to consequences for their actions.

[JarrettOriginal]

The irony of Disney being built on the Public Domain with Snow White, Pinnochio, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, etc. and then vigorously fighting to keep their works out of public domain will never be lost on me. Glad they've decided to at least give up that part of the fight.

[justSalty]

Jake really underrepresented the harm that those copyright extension laws have caused. It's rather deceptive to also claim that Disney is choosing not to extend the copyright on Mickey Mouse, because that's not at all what those laws did. They extended the copyright for all copyright holders, allowing for monopolies to form which is what the copyright law was designed to PREVENT by forcibly limiting the time allowed for copyright holders to prevent the rest of us from expand sciences and the arts. When I was in college at a music school, everyone was so excited because a ton of famous pieces of music were about to enter the public domain from composers such as Charles Ives, and Samuel Barber, which would allow their works to be studied, learned from, and performed without going further into student debt. Then BAM, Disney lobbied for a copyright extension for their ancient IP so they can keep squeezing money out of it that no one cares about and suddenly we're all set back by another 20 YEARS. It hasn't just affected music either, but all other industries that are able to monopolize their IP, including pharmacies. If you want to complain about the cost of healthcare, you really should complain about Disney enabling big pharma to continue to monopolize.

Disney has really damaged the economy because of their corrupt and greedy lobbying. We really need reversals of these laws because they continue to hurt the economy and prevent growth.

[scottmacs]

The film “Nosferatu” was actually made while the novel “Dracula” was still under copyright. There was a lawsuit and nearly all copies of the film were destroyed following a judgment against the producers of the film.

[talllankywhiteboy]

I suspect that in Disney’s calculation they also realize that copyright expiring also means they get access to other works they can adapt. Superman enters public domain in 2033, Batman in 2034, and Wonder Woman in 2036. So in just over a decade the MCU could have crossovers with Batman and Superman without having to pay DC a dime.

[sharkh]

Pretty much what we learned is that Disney doesn't make anything anymore. They just aquire it.

[Doktor_Calamari]

You omitted one crucial point that makes this a big win: The US copyright extensions didn't just protect Mickey, or even Disney. They effectively locked up EVERY piece of intellectual property from that period. This isn't about freeing Mickey--its about freeing Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, and The Threepenny Opera, and even "Mack the Knife, " "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" and "Yes! We Have No Bananas."

[Enflict]

More legal stuff from Jake please! He's like Corridor Crew's own LegalEagle.

[johnshoemakerpbc]

It also only applies to the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey. The iterations that happen over the year are new versions which restarts the copyright timer.

[cpljimmyneutron]

There is actually one work, that was taken out of public domain, and it is a problem to many people. Especially because the work in question was not popular until after it entered public domain.
That work is the movie "It's A Wonderful Life", which failed as it released side by side with Miracle on 34th Street, but gained a level of infamy when it fell to public domain, and tv stations struggling to keep a full roster of shows through the Christmas season started playing it on repeat.
This made it very well known and very popular. In fact, before his passing Brigadier General Jimmy Stewart stated that "It's A Wonderful Life" was his greatest work.
But... well... a movie playing for free on repeat, some people just can't stand that.
So the rights owner of the book that the movie is based on sued, and argued in court that since the script of the movie is a derivative work of the book, that they in fact own the actual words of the movie.
And for some reason the judge agreed, so... you can in fact play the movie of "It's A Wonderful Life" as often as you want in public... as long as it is muted. Because the audio was pulled from public domain, making it the only property ever to fall to public domain, and then be removed from it.

[RickDangerousNL]

I'm still amazed that lobbying is legal. The US govt would call bribing politicians in any other country... corruption. In the US it's called lobbying... right.

[sclark_dev]

Interesting quirk due to how the 1976 Copyright Act works, despite the Star Wars prequels being released over 20 years after the original, the characters in A New Hope will enter the public domain 17 years after the characters from The Phantom Menace.

[aggonzalezdc]

Someone in Disneys legal dept is genius for putting steamboat willie into the new disney logo, therefore protecting it under trademark, and not copyright, which never expires.

[chrissugg]

There's also the aspect that Mickey is absolutely associated with Disney in everyone's minds, regardless of copyright - any works that directly use the public-domain Mickey will effectively be free advertising for Disney.

[kionvaliant]

To help the perspective on Disney's wealth. One million seconds is only twelve days. 160 billion seconds is a little over five thousand years.

[hjewkes]

The public domain is less a repository for lost Disney characters and more the repository for the characters Disney "procured" for themselves

[sorrynotsorry]

I foresee a lot of people getting caught out by using the wrong Mickey Mouse when the Steamboat Willie version does hit Public Domain. So many people are just going to see headlines that read, "Mickey Mouse enters the Public Domain" and just create something using a modern Mickey without actually reading the article.

[username]

Fun fact: The final episode of the Disney+ Series _The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse_, named _Steamboat Silly_, as designed and greenlit _specifically_ to extend the copyright of _Steamboat Willy_ .

It’s also about how a bunch of Mickey Mouse clones would ruin everything, so they _clearly DID NOT_ want to give up copyright.

[ActualFactualMagic]

You kind of just touched on what might be the real reason. Its that trademark protections overlap Mickey's copyright protection. Try to make anything with Mickey and see how quickly a lawyer contacts you. LOL Mickey (and all his pals) are basically corporate logos.