The copyright on Mickey Mouse expires today, meaning The Walt Disney Company no longer has the exclusive rights to the character. Does this mean you can put Mickey in your own cartoon? Not exactly.

Mickey Mouse’s “Steamboat Willie” version is now in the public domain.. Photo: Getty Images Reports have confirmed that Disney’s original Mickey Mouse from the 1928 film “Steamboat Willie” has entered ...

Just a few of the "Steamboat Willie" recreations and memes circulating online since the iconic mouse went copyright free (edit Valentina Di Liscia/Hyperallergic) While Oliver got out ahead of the pack ...

The earliest known version of Disney’s Mickey Mouse entered the public domain on Jan. 1, nearly 100 years after the iconic character first appeared in the 1928 short film Steamboat Willie. Under U.S.

M-I-C-K-E-Y will soon belong to you and me. With several asterisks, qualification and caveats, Mickey Mouse in his earliest form will be the leader of the band of characters, films, and books that ...

Other notable Disney works in the public domain in 2025 are Disney’s first “Silly Symphony” short, titled “The Skeleton Dance,” directed by Walt Disney and animated by Ub Iwerks. The public domain ...

January 1, 2024, brought numerous hangovers along with an unprecedented amount of media attention to intellectual property law. That is because, as of the new year, one of the most famous cartoon ...

British Minister of Food Frederick Marquis (1883 - 1964), with a cartoon and a figure of Mickey Mouse sent by the Walt Disney Studios to help with the ministry's wartime food campaigns, 14th November ...