Steamboat Willy was created in 1928 and has been a part of the Disney family ever since. At the beginning of January, Steamboat Wille and many other beloved characters, such as Minnie Mouse herself, moved over to the public domain. This event could cause a multitude of occurrences to happen, for better or for worse.  

To understand what this means for the characters themselves, it is important to understand what the public domain is and why exactly these characters are being moved to it. Public domain is a form of copyright that determines what can be used on certain creative projects. For example, due to copyright laws, people cannot legally play certain songs in shows or movies without the permission of the creator. These laws last up to 95 years, protecting the content for that amount of time after it was created. However, this does not affect every Mickey iteration. Some versions of Mickey still protected by Disney include the Sorcerers Apprentice from Fantasia, Brand Identifiers, and Symphony Hour Mickey. In general, everything created after 1928 is still under Disney. 

One thing that may hold people back from using Steamboat Willie in new works is the trademark laws. According to the Copyright Alliance, “copyright protects original expressions in works, whereas trademark protects the business reputation and goodwill associated with the word, phrase, symbol, and/or design.” In simpler terms, people can use Steamboat Willie and other old Disney characters in works, as long as it doesn’t confuse consumers into thinking the work is a direct production of Disney or sponsored by it. This can either make things more complicated for artists or also help them. The Center for the Study of Public Domain says, “Trademark rights cannot be used to block the freedoms that the expiration of copyright allows.” Throughout all of this, Disney doesn’t want Steamboat Willie to go into the Public Domain, so rules like this protect artists from whatever legal loopholes Disney may throw at them regarding the trademark. 

Many other characters from other well-known brands are also going into the public domain soon. This includes characters like Batman, Superman, James Bond, and even characters from movie series like The Hobbit. A good example of what happens when a character goes into the public domain is Winnie the Pooh. On January 1st, 2022, Winnie the Pooh went into the Public Domain. This resulted in a low-budget horror film being released, which was all completely legal! 

In all, be prepared to see your favorite mouse legally featured in newer works, as long as he doesn’t have red shorts and white gloves!