95 years of copyright protection period is approaching, Disney may lose Mickey Mouse copyright

1905 movie network, according to the British ‘The Guardian’ reported on July 3, with “Mickey Mouse” 95 years of copyright protection is approaching, Disney may lose the exclusive rights to this most iconic cartoon image.

For Disney, the image of “Mickey Mouse”, created by Walt Disney in 1928, has long been the face of the vast entertainment empire.

However, according to the U.S. copyright protection law, the Mickey Mouse copyright protection period is 95 years, which means that starting from 2024, the Mickey Mouse image will automatically enter the public domain.

After that, the artist is free to use the Mickey Mouse image to create.

On November 18, 1928, the world’s first sound cartoon movie ‘Steamboat Willie’ was screened at the Colonial Theatre in New York, in which the little mouse in boots and hat danced to music and became a sensation throughout New York.

From then on, the image of “Mickey Mouse” became popular throughout the United States, and a series of related works were born: ‘The Band Concert’ (1935), ‘Magician Mickey’ ( 1937), ‘The Mickey Mouse Club’  (1955), ‘Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas’  (1999) and so on.

In the 1980s, the image of “Mickey Mouse” came into China, accompanying generations of people growing up, and can be seen everywhere on the shelves of toy stores, clothing and clocks.