Disney and Copyright. A fascinating and complicated topic. In 2024, Mickey Mouse will enter the public domain. Many believe Disney will fight for another copyright extension, but I don’t believe they will. I believe they’ve found a way to protect Mickey Mouse forever... (1/10) 
In 1998, Disney (and others) fought for an extension to copyright law. This extended the previous extension from 1976, which stated works were protected for 75 years after publication. In 1998, it was extended to 95 years after publication, pushing Mickey’s expiration to 2024.
So Disney could fight for another extension, and it would be just as disastrous to art and copyright law as before. However, they don’t have to. I believe they have a strong contingency plan. Here’s what would happen if Mickey enters the public domain.
First, copyright is different than trademarks. Copyright expires, trademark does not. The name “Mickey Mouse” is trademarked, which would prevent it from being used in many instances. You can’t open “Mickey Mouse Ice Cream” like Robin Hood could name their investment app.
But what about the design? We can now all legally sell Steamboat Willie t-shirts on Etsy right? Not so fast, logos can be trademarked too, and while I’m not sure if this is TM, Disney Animation does use this logo... so I’d bet they have legal leverage even after it’s in the PD.
So Mickey’s in the PD now, except not really. The Plane Crazy and Steamboat Willie versions are, but we’ll have to wait another decade to use any recognizable Mickey with pupils. And Mickey’s most recent evolution, the cool Mickey shorts one, will enter the PD around 2110.
But we can use, distribute, and remix the early shorts with no problem! This is where things get even weirder. Just because the content is in the PD, doesn’t mean the available print is. If you have a 1928 reel of the short, congratulations!
Oh you don’t? You want to pull Disney’s digital print on their YouTube. Well that print was created in 2012, and a lot of great artists worked hard to remaster and digitize that work, resulting in it being considered a new work, so you can pull that from YouTube in 2107.
It’s complicated, but the bottom line is, when Mickey enters the PD, it won’t be a free for all. I don’t think Disney will fight for an extension, they already received a ton of negative press last time, but if they do it is crucial that they don’t get it.
Still, if they don’t, they will have plenty of leverage at their disposal. So you better scrap those blueprints for Mickey Mouse Ice Cream. It isn’t worth the trouble, by design. (10/10)
It should be noted that I am not a lawyer and can only speak from my own research and knowledge on copyright. It is an extremely arbitrary set of laws, and it is mainly decided on a case to case basis. I will put any errors/omissions in the thread.
Note: There is a court decision that goes against the digital renewal protection. It will be interesting to see if this precedent remains as popular films enter the PD or if the Supreme Court would agree with the ruling. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeman…
