Well almost, only the original Steamboat Willie version will enter Public Domain on January 1st, but don’t worry Mr. Walt Disney will be watching closely from his “cryogenic casket” to make sure no one messes around too much with his beloved mouse, like what Dan O’Neill did 53 years ago, when he launched his underground comics: “Air Pirates Funnies”, with Mickey smuggling drugs and having oral sex with Minnie.
So come New Year 2024 everyone, filmmakers, novelists, songwriters, and underground cartoonists will be able to freely do what they want with the original Mickey and Minnie as Disney will no longer enjoy an exclusive copyright over their earliest characters when they finally enter Public Domain, except for poor old O’Neill, at age 81 it will still be a crime for him, if he picks up a pen and places some ink on paper.
“It’s still a crime for me,” said O’Neill, 81, in a phone interview from his home in Nevada City, Calif. “If I draw a picture of Mickey Mouse, I owe Walt Disney a $190,000 fine, $10,000 more for legal fees, and a year in prison.”
(from Yahoo news)
Mickey Mouse has long been a symbol in the copyright wars, with even having the 20-year copyright extension named after him, or we would had been having fun drawing Mickey like we wanted to since the year 2004, but don’t put your hopes on seeing a slasher horror movie like what happen with the “Winnie The Pooh” character after the beloved bear that loves honey entered into the public domain, as Disney will still enforce their trademark rights, and be very controlling over making sure the new Mickey’s arriving in the free world by artists do not look like anything close to their updated Mickey’s which they still have full copyright rights over.
But, it will be interesting, to see what happens, and whom will be the first to test out Public Domain Mickey, and we will be sure O’Neill will be watching from the sidelines, cheering them on to go bolder!
What are your thoughts about having Mickey available in the land of the free? Zombie Mickey anyone?