The original Mickey Mouse will now appear in a whole new light. The popular character will begin being involved in many creative non-disney works after his copyright protection with disney expired on January 1.
What this simply means is that the original Mickey Mouse, also known as, "Steamboat Willie," who was released in 1928 in the very first Mickey Mouse cartoons can now appear anywhere and can be redesigned to any artists liking and how they see fit for the character.
It didn't take long for creators to jump on board with the redesign train for the early and classic Mickey Mouse. They have memed, "Steamboat Willie," into many popular pictures and other areas of the world since his public domain release. In just two days, it has already been annouced that the classic mouse will be inovlved in not just one but two up and coming horror movies and a video game.
A trailer was posted by writer Simon Philips on January 1 of one of the names of the new horror movie titled, "Mickey's Mouse Trap." Where scenes from the original cartoon are shown with tag lines such as, "The mouse is out." As of today, there has been no released date announced for the film.
When Disney had the copyright on "Steamboat willie," they had it for the first fifty years after the character was released. The expiration date was oringally set to expire in the year 1984. Though in 1976 many laws with copyright changed which gave them the rights to the character while the author was still alive but also gained another 50 years on them. Though when that expiration came about, Disney campaigned in 1998 and recieved a long extension on the character once again. The current day Disney company chose to let the character join the public domain.
Disney still retains some rights to the character but they do not have all the rights as they did before. Copyright laws differ in different countries, so artists don't have to worry about the infringement on this character. Disney still has the rights for the current day Mickey Mouse and will for a long time.
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