[IP Encyclopedia] Americans’ love for ‘Mickey Mouse’ changes Copyright law?

Mickey Mouse [Photo provided = Walt Disney official website]

Patent application : Mickey Mouse design (USD82802S)

Year : 1930

Nation : The United States of America

Region : Los Angeles California

Name : Walter E. Disney

Patents are not just limited in functions of the product. For example in the case of cell phones you can obtain patents for functions in cell phone brand logos and even designs for cell phones. Here is an animation character that served as the origination and standard of American design patents. Today in the IP Encyclopedia lets look into the history of the American beloved character ‘Mickey Mouse’ which has even changed American copyright laws and related design patents.

Not to mention Americans few people around the world will not know the mouse character named ‘Mickey.’ Except for those born in the 2000s or later they always appeared in from comic books to amusement parks in peoples childhood maintaining a friendly image. Then when were ‘Mickey Mouse’ the most familiar character on earth first introduced?

Walt Disney who was an American commercial animation producer voice actor and entrepreneur shortening ‘Walter Elias Disney’ released a silent animation called ‘Plane Crazy’ on May 15 1928. It was the first animation that Mickey Mouse characters appeared and was shown on trial in a theater.

Walt Disney who failed to find the distributing agency released a black-and-white animation voiced over actual human’s voice ‘Steamboat Willie’ at the end of the same year and it was very successful. The animation which is famous for Walt Disneys voice for Mickey Mouse presented the future of the industry and became a long-lived character for over 90 years until 2021.

It is known to people that Mickey Mouse was made based on the mouse stealing food at Walt Disneys house and that Walt Disney is the creator of Mickey Mouse but it is not true. The founder of Mickey Mouse is Ub Iwerks an animator and a special effects engineer who is still remembered as Disneys legend. He got a job as a graphic artist at Pesman Art Studio in 1919 and then met Walt Disney to help him run his business.

The design patent for Mickey Mouse was filed in 1930. Looking at the design patent image (USD82802S) signed by Walt Disney you can see Mickey Mouses body and design from various angles.

One question is how copyright was protected for more than 90 years. When the U.S. copyright law was first established in 1790 it was valid for 14 years at that time. An additional extension of 14 years was available. Later the law was changed to allow an additional 14 years to the basic validity period of 28 years in 1831 and an extension of 28 years to the basic validity period of 28 years in 1909.

By some estimates in the case of artworks it is assumed that copyright becomes effective from the time the artwork was produced for the first time. Of course starting in 1930 when the design patent for Mickey Mouse was applied for 1986 is the maximum validity period. The reason why the expiration date is still maintained is because the law has been changed by Disney.

In 1976 Disney knew that the copyright would not last long so they asked the U.S. Congress for the so-called ‘Mickey Mouse Protection Act.’ Simply it was a revised bill to extend the validity of copyright longer. Mickey Mouses validity period was extended until 2003 and when the expiration period was coming they requested another revision. As a result of this repeated action the current copyright on corporate works in the U.S. was changed 95 years from the first publication date to or 70 years after the authors death.

In short the current copyright of Mickey Mouse expires in 2023. After many twists and turns since 1928 it has been extended for 95 years. Of course Mickey Mouses copyright does not necessarily expire in 2023. When you see their action requesting revisions repeatedly so far they can suggest a revised copyright extension again or make a new proposal for lifetime copyright. Of course it is questionable whether the U.S. Congress will accept it or not but it could be possible because it is a character loved by Americans.

In fact Disneys involvement in copyright laws could be seen as a violation of liberal democracy no matter how much Americans love Mickey Mouse. They cannot ask for lifetime copyright because they are not ignorant but also it is a waste to give up. Would Disney really GO or STOP? It is Attracting our interests on whether Mickey Mouse will become a common character for the people in 2023.

Walt Disney [Photo provided = Wikipedia]

UB Iwerks [Photo provided = Wikipedia]

Patent of Mickey Mouse design [Photo provided = Google patents]

Mickey Mouse in ‘Steamboat Willie’ [Photo provided = Screenshot of ‘Steamboat Willie’ on YouTube]

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