It’s January 1st, 2024, and after 95 years of waiting, Mickey Mouse is officially in the public domain. Except not really.

You see, Mickey isn’t in the public domain, but Steamboat Willie, his original name and appearance from the eponymous short film, is. This raises a lot of legal questions. What are we allowed to use? How long does it take for something to enter the public domain? And most importantly, what actually is it?

What is the Public Domain?: In short, ‘Public Domain’ is a non-official legal term meaning an intellectual property (IP) not under any copyright. In other words, nobody ‘owns’ it. If a piece of media, like a painting or character, is made by one person, the copyright expires 70 years after the author's death. For works by anonymous writers, or by multiple authors (like Steamboat Willie), the copyright lasts 95 years after the original creation of the piece. However, it wasn’t always like this. Back in 1988 for example, the time-frame was only 50 years after an author's passing and 75 years after publication. However, in an act largely lobbied for by Disney, one they'd spent years pushing through Congress, one that's ‘lovingly’ nicknamed 'The Mickey Mouse Protection Act', the term dates magically got shifted 2 decades forward.

What Does Public Domain Cover?: So, we’ve established how long Public Domain lasts, but what happens once it runs out? Well, it depends. Only the works of a character made before the cut-off of Public Domain are free to use. Which means that while you can technically use Steamboat Willie, you can’t use many of the iconic characters attributes, like his color or his gloves. And unfortunately, it seems unlikely you ever will. While copyright expires after 95 years as previously stated, trademarks, which are used typically more commercially, are not. Given that Disney has over 6,000 active trademarks and is known for their fierce legal team, it seems that even if you follow the rules exactly, the mouse house always wins.

Who's Next?: Don’t fret, however, there’s still a lot more to look forward to coming into the public domain. Mickey’s dog, Pluto, is coming next year, alongside Goofy Dippy Dawg in 2028, and Donald Duck in 2030. For all of the superhero fans out there, Superman and Batman will join the club back to back, in 2035 and 2036, respectively. And don’t you worry, fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Chibi-Robo!, or Percy Jackson: Assuming no copyright laws change at all, you will be able to use your iconic characters as much as you want in the year 2100. Better get comfortable.

Works Cited:

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Wildes, Joy, and Claudia Cohen. “Trademark Considerations for Copyrighted Works in the Public Domain.” The Advertising Club of New York, 4 Mar. 2024, www.theadvertisingclub.org/trademark-considerations-for-copyrighted-works-in-the-public-domain/. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.

“Works in the Public Domain after Copyrights Expire.” Justia, 3 May 2019, www.justia.com/intellectual-property/copyright/works-in-the-public-domain/.