Mickey Mouse’s original design will be in the public domain in 2024: Will it have limitations on use?

The original Micky Mouse design, brought to you by Walt Disney in 1928, in the short film “Steamboat Willie”, it will enter the public domain in 2024 in the United States.

In the context of US intellectual property laws, which releases the rights to productions after a certain time, animation will become a figure of free use, but with some limitations.

For her part, Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain, assured that the release of author credits for “Steamboat Willie” is a symbolic and long-awaited moment that can favor just causes.

“This is a deeply symbolic and long-awaited moment,” said. After that, she added that some users could use the image of the mouse to promote climate change campaigns or claim the rights obtained by women.

Given the imminent loss of the rights to the original version of Micky Mouse, the Disney company specified that this permission only applies to the image of “Steamboat Willie” and not to the editions that were published later.

On the other hand, Disney assured that although they will lose the rights to “Steambote Willie”, it does not mean that it can be used for profit or as the image of other companies, since the short where the character appears was registered as a Disney trademark.

This means that users will be able to use the animation in social, educational or entertainment campaigns. “What is in the public domain is some kind of frightening black and white animal”said Justin Hughes, a professor at Loyola Law School.

In this way, the researcher assured that Disney will have the responsibility of educating the public in the correct use of the character.

“They were very clever at Disney: they realized that the best thing they could do was establish that iconic sequence of Steamboat Willie as a registered trademarkHughes added.