The copyright for the oldest version of Mickey Mouse expires in 2024. What does this mean for the world's most famous mouse?
This is how it all started: The first Mickey Mouse version from 1928
Probably the most famous cartoon character of all: Mickey Mouse. In 2024, the earliest version of the beloved rodent will enter the public domain. Mickey Mouse, as it is spelled in English, first appeared in the 1928 animated short “Steamboat Willie” – the first animated film , which has been voiced.
In the United States, copyright for original works lasts 70 years after the author's death. However, it is valid for 95 years for works created anonymously, pseudo-anonymously or by an employee as part of his or her job. Works published before 1978, such as Mickey Mouse, only have copyright for 95 years from the date of publication.
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Micky and his creator Walt Disney
Hardly anyone knows that the mouse started her career as a substitute. Walt Disney's first star was “Oswald the lucky rabbit”. However, Disney lost the rights to the character, and so Mickey's hour came. He was originally supposed to be called Mortimer, but Disney's wife allegedly found this name too conservative: she is said to have suggested “Micky”.
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Premiere in cinema
On November 18, 1928, Mickey Mouse celebrated its screen premiere in the cinema in the strip “Steamboat Willie”. The cartoon lasted almost eight minutes and was even set to music. Archenemy Karlo the cat and the adored Minnie Mouse were also part of the party. Public and press were enthusiastic. The New York Times wrote, “He is imaginative work that is a lot of fun.”
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Failed: Plane Crazy
Actually, Micky had his first appearance six months earlier in the silent film “Plane Crazy”, in which he played the pilot Charles Lindbergh, who at the time had just become the first to fly across the Atlantic. But the film did not find a distributor and only came onto the market later – this time with the soundtrack. Disney's collaborator Ub Iwerks drew around 700 pictures a day for the film.
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Micky in color < /h2>
Until 1935 Micky was only seen in black and white, then his world became colorful. Walt Disney himself lent his voice to his little mouse, into which he had invested all his company fortune, from 1928 to 1946. “The brave little tailor” (photo) was technically far ahead of its time and was a model for animation in modern cartoons up to the 1990s.
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Micky in the feature film
Beginning in 1939, Donald Duck, Disney's favorite character, increasingly stole the show. So Disney decided to give the mouse an appearance in a feature-length film. “Fantasia” was an experimental masterpiece of animation and music, for which Disney received an honorary Oscar in 1942. Micky would have deserved it too – as a “magician's apprentice” who struggles with bewitched brooms to the music of Paul Dukas.
- The most famous mouse in the world turns 90: Happy Birthday, Micky
Micky is celebrating Christmas
In the 1950s there were only a few short films with Micky, finally they were stopped altogether. It wasn't until 1983 that the mouse celebrated a brilliant comeback with the Oscar-nominated film “Mickey's Christmas Carol”. Five years later (the Oscar turned 60 just like Micky at the time), the mouse himself announced the winner of the Best Short Animated Film category at the Oscar Gala.
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Micky as mime
Even if Mickey looks sad here, don't worry: That's what the screenplay of “The Prince and the Pauper” dictates. The film was a huge hit in 1990. No wonder with such a leading actor. After all, the talented mouse was the first cartoon star ever to receive a star on the Walk of Fame in 1978. But he has no airs and graces, his friends are most important to him.
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Micky's great love
The mouse doesn't always have it easy with his Minnie. But the two are actually inseparable and appeared together in the first film in 1928. Minnie works as a secretary and reporter. She loves red dresses and flowers. Mickey will do just about anything to please her. Unfortunately, the tomcat Karlo keeps courting his beloved.
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Micky's animal friend
Pluto was born in 1930. Originally it was called Rover. He loves veal bones, “dognip” and of course his master Mickey Mouse. He often stands by the mouse to help. He senses danger long before Micky suspects anything. However, unlike many other animals at Disney, Pluto cannot speak, only bark and growl.
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Micky's best friend
Goofy is gentle, a little absent-minded, clumsy and always in a good mood – unlike his son Max (in the photo on the right). He celebrated his debut in 1932 and thus already has a few dog years under his belt. He has been through many adventures with Micky. And both know: You can rely on this dog-mouse friendship.
Successful with comic books
The first Mickey Mouse comic appeared in the United States in 1931. Micky quickly became popular internationally as well. The pioneer in Europe was Italy, which not only adopted the stories from America, but also invented its own adventures for “Topolino” (Italian for little mouse). The Micky Maus magazine has been published in Germany once a month since 1951 – a bestseller to this day.
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Micky and the celebrities
Modern technology makes it possible: Here Micky straightens the bow tie for the famous conductor James Levine, while both are still waiting for Donald Duck for the start of Sir Edward Elgar's “Pomp and Circumstance” concert. He's still in the shower…
Stars in Disneyland: Mickey and Minnie
< p>The first Disneyland park opened its doors in California in 1955. There are now six of them: from Tokyo to Paris, visitors big and small can be enchanted by Disney's likeable characters. And Micky and his girlfriend Minnie are of course one of the stars who are always in a flurry of flashbulbs.
Exhibition in honor of Mickey
On the occasion On the occasion of his 90th birthday on November 18th, there is a large exhibition in New York in honor of Mickey. He himself will probably celebrate with his loved ones – with sweetheart Minnie, nephews Mack and Muck, Goofy and Pluto. And then enjoy his favorite dish: spinach and strawberries with cream. Happy birthday Mickey!
Subsequent Mickey Mouse versions are protected until their 95th birthday Years have passed – but the first version of Mickey Mouse is nearing the end of its copyright protection. Since its inception, the popular mouse has undergone a number of changes: The Mickey Mouse of yore looked different to the slightly rounder mouse of today. She had a pointy nose like a rat and thin arms and legs.
This version is essentially in the public domain. However, if this original version of the mouse is recognized as a trademark, Disney could still retain some rights, although the company loses copyright on “Steamboat Willie”. “The first question is whether Disney uses 'Steamboat Willie' not only as a character but also as a symbol for Disney,” Jane Ginsburg, professor of literary and artistic property law at Columbia Law School, told DW.
Copyright versus Trademark
A trademark is a recognizable symbol or phrase associated with a product or service of a particular company or individual. Unlike copyright, it can last forever. In addition, a trademark does not have to be registered in the USA in order to be considered such.
So if the version of Mickey Mouse in “Steamboat Willie” is considered a symbol for Disney, the company can say that it is a trademark. This means the characters can be used, but only in a way that doesn't mean they're strictly Disney characters.
Winnie the Pooh as a serial killer
What it means when Disney characters Characters entering the public domain is exemplified by Winnie the Pooh. The original stories and characters by Alan Alexander Milnes (1926) have been in the public domain since early 2022.
But Disney's iconic image of the character, the yellow bear with the red t-shirt, who first appeared in a short animated film in 1966, is still copyrighted. The entertainment giant also holds several trademark rights to the popular teddy bear, which limits use of the character on products.
The limits of Disney's copyright ownership of the character will be explored in a new non-Disney film, 'Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey,' a horror film slated for release later this year. It reinvents the character of AA Milne as a serial killer.
“We knew what [Disney's] copyright was and what they were doing,” director Rhys Waterfield told Variety magazine. “So we did as much as we could to make sure [the film] was only based on the 1926 version”. Name aside, you couldn't confuse the honey-loving bear with Disney's. Pooh is wearing a lumberjack suit and his features are distorted.
Dead Brands: From Aspirin to Thermos
If a trademark becomes a generic term for a class of product or service, the company may lose the right to call it its trademark. That's why Google announced in 2013 it would take action against consumers who use “google” as a generic term when they don't actually use the Google search engine.
“Brand owners want to have both,” says Ginsburg. “They want the word to be a household name as long as people have two ideas in their minds at once – that Google is a synonym for search, but also that Google is a specific company doing the search.”
Mickey Mouse in “Steamboat Willie”: here the mouse looked different than today
Famous examples of brands and products that have become generic are Aspirin and Thermos. “There's actually quite a number of dead brands that have lost their connection, often because the brand owner hasn't properly overseen use of the brand – the word has stopped meaning an individual brand,” explained Ginsburg. When the validity of a trademark is questioned, polls are conducted to determine whether people associate the trademark with a specific brand or product.
Why does copyright expire?
When a person goes to the trouble of creating an original work, one would think that they should keep the rights permanently. So why are authors and inventors only given limited property rights? The US Constitution's Patent and Copyright Clause states that Congress has the power to “promote the advancement of science and the useful arts by securing to authors and inventors for a limited period the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries .”
“So how do you encourage the advancement of knowledge? First you get people to create works, and then you get those works widely distributed,” says Ginsburg. And finally the works would then be made fully available through the public domain.
From the English by Sven Töniges.