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Disney's earliest Mickey and Minnie Mouse enter public domain as US copyright expires
BBC ^ | 31st December 2023 | Noor Nanji

Posted on 01/01/2024 12:19:51 AM PST by nickcarraway

It was the animation that launched the House of Mouse.

Steamboat Willie, a 1928 short film featuring early non-speaking versions of Mickey and Minnie, is widely seen as the moment that transformed Disney's fortunes and made cinema history.

Their images are now available to the public in the US, after Disney's copyright expired.

It means creatives like cartoonists can now rework and use the earliest versions of Mickey and Minnie.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: copyright; disney; mickeymouse
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Shouldn't the government keep changing the laws to prevent this?
1 posted on 01/01/2024 12:19:51 AM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

All right. Now I can paint the local day care with Minnie and Mickey.


2 posted on 01/01/2024 12:24:36 AM PST by Jonty30 (In a nuclear holocaust, there is always a point in time where the meat is cooked to perfection. )
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To: nickcarraway
I guess all those Disney groomer memes I made were illegal.

3 posted on 01/01/2024 12:31:21 AM PST by Right_Wing_Madman
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To: nickcarraway

After 96 years anyone who had any connection to a particular work is long dead. Should the kin of someone like Twain still be able to determine if their ancestors work is viewed by the public? Also remember trademarks can last forever so that only gives people a limited scope of free use. An example is the characters in Winnie the Pooh are public domain, but the versions Disney created are trademarked. You can still make your own Pooh works but they must be different than those made by Disney


4 posted on 01/01/2024 12:42:20 AM PST by LukeL
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To: nickcarraway

They do -in the late 90’s it was extended to delay exactly the above until I’ll guess now. Basically, legislation bought and paid for by Disney.


5 posted on 01/01/2024 12:44:50 AM PST by Freest Republican (This space for rent)
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To: Jonty30

I bet The Simpson’s and South Park will be running stories with Mickey & Minnie in them...


6 posted on 01/01/2024 1:25:19 AM PST by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: Jonty30

Steamboat Willy


7 posted on 01/01/2024 2:47:52 AM PST by MeanWestTexan (Sometimes There Is No Lesser Of Two Evils)
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To: nickcarraway

They have extended the trademark many times, and it was expected to happen again.

Then Disney went crazy leftist partisan and the MAGA wing of Congress stopped it despite the RINOS and Democrats pushing it.


8 posted on 01/01/2024 2:50:32 AM PST by MeanWestTexan (Sometimes There Is No Lesser Of Two Evils)
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To: nickcarraway

I guess it’s only a matter of time before there’s Minnie/Mickey Mouse porn.

These days, it wouldn’t shock me if there was already an online subculture devoted to that...


9 posted on 01/01/2024 3:02:43 AM PST by chrisser (I lost my vaccine card in a tragic boating accident.)
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To: chrisser
Gives a whole new meaning to "Steamboat Willie".


10 posted on 01/01/2024 3:20:14 AM PST by GreenLanternCorps (Hi! I'm the Dread Pirate Roberts! (TM) Ask about franchise opportunities in your area.)
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To: minnesota_bound

11 posted on 01/01/2024 3:24:49 AM PST by Sirius Lee (Next week on The Bickersons...)
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To: nickcarraway

Copyright protection was always a deal, public protection in exchange for public domain.
Even Trump and Congress rolled over to Hollywood in not protecting the public side of the deal.


12 posted on 01/01/2024 4:02:37 AM PST by Mark was here
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To: minnesota_bound

Bet on it.


13 posted on 01/01/2024 4:31:28 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Sirius Lee; minnesota_bound

Just last night I saw an episode of The Simpsons with a bit about the origins of Itchy and Scratchy, and Itchy was clearly a parody of Steamboat Willie. Parody does not infringe on copyright.


14 posted on 01/01/2024 4:46:16 AM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: nickcarraway

Disney has had huge political clout, until recently. I remember from articles at the time that Disney negotiated that they could, if they wanted, build a nuclear reactor to support their Florida facility. The article I read said that no other company, ever, had permissions like they had.

They went woke and screwed themselves. They blew all of their political capital on LGBT support.

I have this theory that the stronger and richer and more influential something is, the sooner Leftists will target it and take it over. They do this from the inside by getting hired as bonified conservatives. They work themselves up the hierarchy and eventually end up running the place. Then they whip off the mask. This is Saul Alinsky’s model. He told the hippies to put on suits and ties and get hired. Only when they had taken over the power structure could they make the changes required to create “real” communism.


15 posted on 01/01/2024 4:48:27 AM PST by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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To: nickcarraway

Minnie and Mickey in porn film’s...


16 posted on 01/01/2024 5:29:33 AM PST by moovova ("The NEXT election is the most important election of our lifetimes!“ LOL...)
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To: nickcarraway

It doesn’t matter. No body but Disney World visitors give a damn about the archaic Micky Mouse.

Micky Mouse isn’t. Micky Mouse was.


17 posted on 01/01/2024 5:33:08 AM PST by bert ( (KWE. NP. N.C. +12) Hamasci de is required in totalhe)
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To: minnesota_bound

Well they did rip-off from “Steamboat Itchy”....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-BgOC39NM8


18 posted on 01/01/2024 5:34:30 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: nickcarraway

I spent a year of my life being the only person on Earth who wasn’t wearing mouse ears.....


19 posted on 01/01/2024 5:43:47 AM PST by ganeemead (everything )
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To: nickcarraway

I assume Disney still owns the mouse ears.


20 posted on 01/01/2024 7:22:48 AM PST by Ciexyz (Prayers for America and Israel.)
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