Mickey Mouse and Ma Rainey Enter the Public Domain

Every new year, a number of pieces of art and music enter the public domain on January 1. The year 2024 was no different except it heralded the availability of the earliest image of Mickey Mouse from 1928 known as Steamboat Willie.

The day illustrators can finally tweak an image of the famous mouse without permission of its creator, Disney, has been a long time coming.

“Creatives have a right to build on what was created in the past,” said Almuhtada Smith, copyright infringement attorney and founder of ARS Counsel, P.C. in Los Angeles.

The public domain refers to works of art that aren’t protected by copyright and are therefore available without the consent of their creator whether dead or alive.

However, Disney’s persistent trademark is expected to limit the use by today’s artists of the 1920s-era image that appeared in the short film ‘Steamboat Willie’ ninety-five years ago.

Trademarks protect brands, not creative works and Disney allegedly uses the trademark process to closely guard Mickey Mouse images.

“If you create a version of Mickey and you make the public believe that it’s associated with Disney and you try to profit from that, then it’s considered using their brand for commercial gain, and they could come after you through the trademark process,” Smith told OrangeCountyLawyers.com.

Disney has created newer images of Mickey Mouse since the 1920s that are still protected under copyright law and are not entering the public domain this year because they are not the same as the Steamboat Willie original.

Steamboat Willie’s Mickey Mouse would have been available sooner if it hadn’t been for the Copyright Term Extension Act, also known as the Mickey Mouse Protection Act or the 1998 Sonny Bono Term Extension Act, which extended already lengthy copyright terms by 20 years.

“I have more sympathy for individuals controlling their work if they’re still alive but when it comes to corporations, I’m less sympathetic for them to extend copyright ownership beyond where it is currently,” Smith said. Although extending the copyright term covers the increase in man’s average life expectancy, the downside is that the delay reportedly stifles the creativity of younger generations that are unable to use works of the past like their predecessors did.

Ma Rainey’s Moonshine Blues and Southern Blues Enter Public Domain in Addition to the Steamboat Willie Version of Mickey Mouse

Smith, whose clients include hip hop artists who often alter and use past words to create music for the youth, for example, are excited about the songs, Moonshine Blues and Southern Blues. Recorded in 1923 by Ma Rainey, they both entered the public domain along with the Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse this week.

“I’m advocating for a lot of individuals and indie production companies to have access to as many creative works as possible to build upon, innovate, remix and continue to create the culture of the next generation, and not be held back by large corporations,” Smith said in an interview.

Gertrude ‘Ma’ Rainey, considered mother of the Blues music genre, was an American singer from Georgia who was born in 1886 and died in 1939.

“Her songs are pretty popular,” Smith added. “Access is important for American culture, which is one of our biggest exports to the rest of the world. Artists of color, especially get the short end of the stick, and they’re not able to level the playing field with their creativity if it’s stifled.”

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