Mickey, Disney, and the Public Domain: a 95-year Love Triangle

by Jennifer Jenkins, Director, Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain CC BY 4.0 On January 1, 2024, after almost a century of copyright protection, Mickey Mouse, or at least a version of Mickey Mouse, will enter the United States public domain. The first movies in which the iconic mouse appeared – Steamboat Willie and the silent version of Plane Crazy­[1] – were made in 1928 and works from that year go into the public domain in the US on New Year’s Day 2024.[2] (Note that this article is only about US law.

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