The funny thing is, if copyright terms lasted only 50 years in the United States, the original Star Wars films would enter the public domain in 2028, 2031, and 2034, respectively, and Disney would have every reason to fret over fans shunning the Special Editions. Maybe that's why we have the Mickey Mouse Protection Act. Thanks, Disney and Imperial scum.
#copyright #copyrightLaw #copyrightTerm #CopyrightTermExtensionAct #Disney #MickeyMouseProtectionAct #StarWars
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.
The first appearance of Mickey Mouse was in 1928's #SteamboatWillie. Disney was critical to the lobbying efforts that extended copyright in 1976 and again in 1998, so much so that the 1998 Act is sometimes called the #MickeyMouseProtectionAct. Disney and its allies were so effective at securing these regulatory gifts that many people doubted that this day would ever come. Surely Disney would secure another retrospective copyright term extension before Jan 1, 2024.
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