Disney’s Mickey Mouse will finally become public domain in the United States on January 1, 2024

On January 1, 2024, Disney’s iconic characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse will finally become public domain in the United States, reports Gizmodo.

However, for now, we are only talking about the image from the 1928 Steamboat Willie cartoon. In a few days, it will be free to use and redraw, as Disney will lose its exclusive copyright to it.

That’s because anonymous or pseudo-anonymous works of art in the United States can be owned for no more than 95 years. For the image of Mickey and Minnie from Steamboat Willie, this period is about to expire.

At the same time, in a statement to AP, Disney noted that it will continue to protect its rights to more modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other works that remain copyrighted.

As a reminder, since January 1 last year, a significant number of literary works, films and audio recordings have been in the public domain in the United States. Among them is Alan Milne’s children’s book Winnie the Pooh.