Editing Mickey Mouse (section)

==Legal issues==
[[File:Mickey Mouse.svg|thumb|The early design of Mickey Mouse is one of the most notable works that entered the [[2024 in American public domain|public domain in 2024]]. [[The Walt Disney Company]] had previously lobbied for the extension of copyright length in the United States and other countries to prevent this character and others from entering the public domain, resulting in the [[Copyright Term Extension Act]].]]

Although the earliest designs of Mickey Mouse entered the [[public domain]] in 2024, the character, like all major Disney characters, remains [[trademarked]] by Disney. Trademarks last for as long as it continues to be used commercially by its owner. So, while people are free to use early designs of Mickey Mouse, due to him being trademarked, there are still limitations. For example, the character cannot be referred to as "Mickey Mouse" without permission, nor can be the early designs be used "...in a way that misleads consumers into thinking your work is produced or sponsored by Disney."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Jenkins |first1=Jennifer |title=Mickey, Disney, and the Public Domain: a 95-year Love Triangle |url=https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/#trademark |publisher=Duke University |access-date=1 January 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Watts |first1=Christopher |title=Mickey's adventure into the public domain |url=https://ipo.blog.gov.uk/2024/03/07/mickeys-adventure-into-the-public-domain/ |website=GOV.UK |date=March 7, 2024 |access-date=1 January 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Stone |first1=Devin J. |title=How Disney Will Control Mickey Forever |website=[[LegalEagle]] |date=January 10, 2024 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N61Ho-gVpnE&t=1s |publisher=[[YouTube]] |access-date=1 January 2025}}</ref> Between 1991 and 1998, the [[The Walt Disney Company|Walt Disney Company]] filed a trademark infringement complaint against the Paraguayan [[Mickey srl#Alleged Trademark Infringement|Mickey]] brand whose logo shares similarities with Mickey Mouse.<ref>{{cite news |author1-link=Laurence Blair |title=Paraguay Loves Mickey, Its Cartoon Mouse. Disney Doesn't. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/14/world/americas/paraguay-mickey-mouse-disney.html |access-date=3 February 2025 |work=New York Times |date=2024-09-14 }}</ref> Ultimately, Disney lost the case as Mickey SRL had continuously used the trademark since 1956 without prior complaint.

Due to the [[Copyright Term Extension Act]] of the United States (sometimes called the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act" because of extensive lobbying by the Disney corporation) and similar legislation within the [[European Union]] and other jurisdictions where [[copyright term]]s have been extended, the early [[Steamboat Willie]] version of Mickey Mouse cartoons remained under copyright until the end of 2023. The 1928 version of Mickey entered the [[Public domain in the United States|U.S. public domain]] at the start of 2024,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Reed |first=Rachel |title=Harvard Law IP expert explains how Disney has influenced US copyright law to protect Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh |url=https://hls.harvard.edu/today/harvard-law-i-p-expert-explains-how-disney-has-influenced-u-s-copyright-law-to-protect-mickey-mouse-and-winnie-the-pooh/ |access-date=2023-11-03 |website=Harvard Law School |language=en-us |archive-date=October 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231013212932/https://hls.harvard.edu/today/harvard-law-i-p-expert-explains-how-disney-has-influenced-u-s-copyright-law-to-protect-mickey-mouse-and-winnie-the-pooh/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine |date=2024-01-02 |title=Mickey Mouse is Now in the Public Domain |url=https://time.com/6551496/mickey-mouse-public-domain-steamboat-willie/ |access-date=2024-01-04 |magazine=Time |language=en |archive-date=January 4, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240104041117/https://time.com/6551496/mickey-mouse-public-domain-steamboat-willie/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-01 |title=Copyright expires for early Mickey and Minnie Mouse |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67833411 |access-date=2024-01-04 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB |archive-date=January 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240101052650/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-67833411 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Cain |first=Sian |date=2024-01-02 |title=Mickey Mouse's first 24 hours in the public domain: slasher flicks, horror games and NFTs |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/jan/02/mickey-mouses-first-24-hours-in-the-public-domain-slasher-flicks-horror-games-and-nfts |access-date=2024-01-04 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> and in 2025 the cartoons and versions of Mickey from 1929 joined them.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2025/ |title=Public Domain Day 2025 |last1=Jenkins |first1=Jennifer |last2=Boyle |first2=James |publisher=Duke's Center for the Study of the Public Domain}}</ref>

Copyright scholars have argued that Disney's copyright on the earliest version of the character may have been invalid due to ambiguity in the copyright notice for ''Steamboat Willie''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mickey22-2008aug22,0,6883462.story|title=Disney's rights to young Mickey Mouse may be wrong|access-date=August 22, 2008|author=Menn, Joseph|date=August 22, 2008|work=Los Angeles Times|archive-date=August 23, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080823034206/http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mickey22-2008aug22,0,6883462.story|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=":3" />

The Walt Disney Company is well known for zealously protecting its trademark on Mickey Mouse—whose likeness is synonymous and closely associated with the company. In 1989, Disney threatened legal action against three daycare centers in the [[Orlando, Florida]] region (where [[Walt Disney World]] is a dominant employer) for having Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters painted on their walls. The characters were removed, and the newly opened rival [[Universal Orlando|Universal Studios Florida]] allowed the centers to use their own cartoon characters with their blessing, to build community goodwill.<ref>[http://www.snopes.com/disney/wdco/daycare.asp Daycare Center Murals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129185549/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/daycare-center-murals/ |date=November 29, 2023 }}. [[Snopes.com]], updated September 17, 2007. Retrieved July 27, 2010.</ref>

===''Walt Disney Productions v. Air Pirates''===
In 1971, a group of [[Underground comix|underground cartoonists]] calling themselves the [[Air Pirates]], after a group of villains from early Mickey Mouse films, produced a comic called ''Air Pirates Funnies''. In the first issue, cartoonist [[Dan O'Neill]] depicted Mickey and Minnie Mouse engaging in explicit sexual behavior and consuming drugs. As O'Neill explained, "The air pirates were...some sort of bizarre concept to steal the air, pirate the air, steal the media....Since we were cartoonists, the logical thing was Disney."<ref name="ComicBookConfidential">{{cite video|title=[[Comic Book Confidential]]|publisher=Sphinx Productions|people=Mann, Ron. Director|date=1989}}</ref> Rather than change the appearance or name of the character, which O'Neill felt would dilute the parody, the mouse depicted in ''Air Pirates Funnies'' looks like and is named "Mickey Mouse". Disney sued for copyright infringement, and after a series of appeals, O'Neill eventually lost and was ordered to pay Disney $1.9 million. The outcome of the case remains controversial among free-speech advocates. [[New York Law School]] professor Edward Samuels said, "The Air Pirates set parody back twenty years."<ref name="PiratesAndTheMouse">{{Cite book|last=Levin|first=Bob|title=The Pirates and the Mouse: Disney's War Against the Counterculture|publisher=Fantagraphics Books|year=2003|isbn=1-56097-530-X|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/piratesmouse00bobl}}</ref>

===Copyright status===
{{see also|Works based on a copyright-free Mickey Mouse}}

Prior to 2024, there had been multiple attempts in the United States to argue that certain versions of Mickey Mouse were in fact in the public domain. In the 1980s, archivist George S. Brown attempted to recreate and sell cels from the 1933 short ''[[The Mad Doctor (1933 film)|The Mad Doctor]]'', on the theory that they were in the public domain because Disney had failed to renew the copyright as required by current law.<ref name="Menn">{{cite news|last=Menn|first=Joseph|date=August 22, 2008|title=Whose mouse is it anyway?|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|url=https://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/22/business/fi-mickey22/2|url-status=dead|access-date=December 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101022153034/https://articles.latimes.com/2008/aug/22/business/fi-mickey22/2|archive-date=October 22, 2010}}</ref> However, Disney successfully sued Brown to prevent such sale, arguing that the lapse in copyright for ''The Mad Doctor'' did not put Mickey Mouse in the public domain because of the copyright in the earlier films.<ref name="Menn" /> Brown attempted to appeal, noting imperfections in the earlier copyright claims, but the court dismissed his argument as untimely.<ref name="Menn" />

In 1999, Lauren Vanpelt, a law student at Arizona State University, wrote a paper making a similar argument.<ref name="Menn"/><ref name="Vanpelt">{{cite web|last=Vanpelt|first=Lauren|date=Spring 1999|title=Mickey Mouse – A Truly Public Character|url=http://homepages.law.asu.edu/~dkarjala/OpposingCopyrightExtension/publicdomain/Vanpelt-s99.html|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040320062518/http://homepages.law.asu.edu/~dkarjala/OpposingCopyrightExtension/publicdomain/Vanpelt-s99.html|archive-date=March 20, 2004|access-date=December 13, 2018}}</ref> Vanpelt points out that copyright law at the time required a copyright notice specify the year of the copyright and the copyright owner's name. The title cards to early Mickey Mouse films ''Steamboat Willie'', ''Plane Crazy'', and ''Gallopin' Gaucho'' do not clearly identify the copyright owner, and also misidentify the copyright year. However, Vanpelt notes that copyright cards in other early films may have been done correctly, which could make Mickey Mouse "protected as a component part of the larger copyrighted films".<ref name="Vanpelt"/>

A 2003 article by Douglas A. Hedenkamp in the ''Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal'' analyzed Vanpelt's arguments, and concluded that she is likely correct.<ref name="Menn"/><ref name="Hedenkamp">{{cite journal|last1=Hedenkamp|first1=Douglas|date=Spring 2003|title=Free Mickey Mouse: Copyright Notice, Derivative Works, and the Copyright Act of 1909|url=http://homepages.law.asu.edu/~dkarjala/OpposingCopyrightExtension/publicdomain/HedenkampFreeMickeyMouseVaSp&E(2003).htm#Document2zzFN_B2|journal=Virginia Sports and Entertainment Law Journal|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040622175423/http://homepages.law.asu.edu/~dkarjala/OpposingCopyrightExtension/publicdomain/HedenkampFreeMickeyMouseVaSp%26E%282003%29.htm#Document2zzFN_B2|archive-date=June 22, 2004|access-date=December 13, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Hedenkamp provided additional arguments, and identified some errors in Vanpelt's paper, but still found that due to imperfections in the copyright notice on the title cards, Walt Disney forfeited his copyright in Mickey Mouse. He concluded: "The forfeiture occurred at the moment of publication, and the law of that time was clear: publication without proper notice irrevocably forfeited copyright protection."<ref name="Hedenkamp"/> Disney threatened to sue Hedenkamp for [[slander of title]], but did not follow through.<ref name="Menn" /> The claims in Vanpelt and Hedenkamp's articles have not been tested in court.{{citation needed|date=August 2019}}

In a 2023 episode of ''[[Last Week Tonight with John Oliver]]'', [[John Oliver]] suggested that without copyright protection to stop the unauthorized use of Mickey Mouse, the Walt Disney Company would likely use trademark law to achieve the same results, potentially arguing that Mickey Mouse is so closely associated with their brand that any unauthorized use would cause [[Consumer confusion#Law|consumer confusion]]. Oliver then revealed that ''Last Week Tonight''{{'}}s opening titles had been using an image from ''Steamboat Willie'' since the start of the season and that he would begin to use his own version of Mickey Mouse as a mascot of the show. He stated:<ref name="taunts2">{{Cite web |date=2023-04-03 |title=John Oliver 'riskily' taunts Disney with Mickey Mouse stunt on Last Week Tonight |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/john-oliver-disney-mickey-mouse-last-week-tonight-b2313071.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616132318/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/john-oliver-disney-mickey-mouse-last-week-tonight-b2313071.html |archive-date=June 16, 2023 |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |date=2023-04-03 |title=John Oliver Dares Disney to Sue Over Use of Mickey Mouse's 'Steamboat Willie' Image |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/04/john-oliver-dares-disney-to-sue-over-use-of-mickey-mouses-steamboat-willie-image |access-date=2023-06-16 |magazine=Vanity Fair |language=en-US |archive-date=December 31, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231193609/https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/04/john-oliver-dares-disney-to-sue-over-use-of-mickey-mouses-steamboat-willie-image |url-status=live }}</ref>

{{blockquote|We are staking our claim to Mickey Mouse right now and, I know Disney's lawyers might argue that this Mickey is closely associated with their brand, although they should know that he's pretty associated with our brand now too.}}

On January 1, 2024, the copyrights of the first three animated Mickey Mouse cartoons and their portrayal of Mickey Mouse expired in the United States, and they entered the [[Public domain in the United States|public domain]]. They are the silent versions of the cartoons ''Plane Crazy'' and ''The Gallopin' Gaucho'', as well as the sound cartoon ''Steamboat Willie''.{{Efn|While the silent version of ''Plane Crazy'' became public domain in the U.S., that version is not known to be extant. The widely released sound version remained under copyright in the United States until 2025.}} Newer versions of Mickey Mouse remain copyright-protected.<ref>{{cite news | last =Seriac | first =Hanna | title =Why Mickey Mouse entering the public domain in 2024 is more complicated than you think: Mickey Mouse was originally named Mortimer when he debuted | newspaper =[[Deseret News]] | location =[[Salt Lake City]] | pages = | language = | publisher = | date =August 28, 2023 | url =https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2022/12/28/23529497/the-original-mickey-mouse-is-entering-the-public-domain-in-2024-well-kind-of | accessdate =October 21, 2023 | archive-date =October 16, 2023 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20231016052126/https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2022/12/28/23529497/the-original-mickey-mouse-is-entering-the-public-domain-in-2024-well-kind-of | url-status =live }}</ref>

Quinton Hoover, a [[YouTube]] user who uploaded a copy of ''Steamboat Willie'' after its U.S. copyright expired on January 1, 2024, noted that three attempts to upload the short to the service triggered copyright claims from Disney, including one that claimed a copyright on the short's soundtrack. Users of [[Twitch (service)|Twitch]] noted similar behavior in that attempts to stream ''Steamboat Willie'' would end up with the audio muted.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Colopy |first=Jess |date=2024-01-03 |title=Disney & YouTube Aren't Allowing Legal 'Steamboat Willie' Use |url=https://insidethemagic.net/2024/01/quinton-reviews-steamboat-willie-youtube-copyright-jc1/ |access-date=2024-01-06 |website=Inside the Magic |language=en-US |archive-date=January 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106014746/https://insidethemagic.net/2024/01/quinton-reviews-steamboat-willie-youtube-copyright-jc1/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Disney withdrew a separate copyright strike from a different uploader shortly after it was challenged.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Binder |first=Matt |date=2024-01-05 |title=Disney backs down from 'Steamboat Willie' YouTube copyright claim |url=https://mashable.com/article/disney-pulls-youtube-steamboat-willie-copyright-claim |access-date=2024-01-06 |website=Mashable |language=en |archive-date=January 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240106014746/https://mashable.com/article/disney-pulls-youtube-steamboat-willie-copyright-claim |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Censorship===
In 1930, the German Board of Film Censors prohibited any presentations of the 1929 Mickey Mouse cartoon ''[[The Barnyard Battle]]''. The animated short, which features the mouse as a [[kepi]]-wearing soldier fighting cat enemies in German-style helmets, was viewed by censors as a negative portrayal of Germany.<ref>The full 1929 cartoon [https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=isHDIoSSl-s ''The Barnyard Battle''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129185545/https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=isHDIoSSl-s |date=November 29, 2023 }} (7:48) is available for viewing on YouTube. Retrieved June 16, 2017.</ref> It was claimed by the board that the film would "reawaken the latest anti-German feeling existing abroad since the War".<ref>The Times (July 14, 1930). [http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1930-07-14-12-015&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1930-07-14-12&pageId=undefined "Mickey Mouse in Trouble (German Censorship)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120707101859/http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1930-07-14-12-015&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1930-07-14-12&pageId=undefined |date=July 7, 2012 }}, ''The Times Archive'' (archive.timesonline.co.uk). Retrieved November 19, 2008.</ref> The ''Barnyard Battle'' incident did not incite wider anti-Mickey sentiment in Germany in 1930; however, after [[Adolf Hitler]] came to power several years later, the Nazi regime unambiguously propagandized against Disney. A mid-1930s German newspaper article read:

{{quote frame|Mickey Mouse is the most miserable ideal ever revealed. Healthy emotions tell every independent young man and every honorable youth that the dirty and filth-covered vermin, the greatest bacteria carrier in the animal kingdom, cannot be the ideal type of animal. Away with Jewish brutalization of the people! Down with Mickey Mouse! Wear the [[Nazi swastika|Swastika Cross]]!<ref name="HungerfordAmy">{{Cite book|last=Hungerford|first=Amy|title=The Holocaust of Texts|page=206|publisher=University Of Chicago Press|date=January 15, 2003|isbn=0-226-36076-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hQaoyehtkBgC&q=%22Mickey+Mouse+is+the+most+miserable+ideal+ever+revealed%22&pg=PA87|access-date=October 20, 2020|archive-date=November 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129190146/https://books.google.com/books?id=hQaoyehtkBgC&q=%22Mickey+Mouse+is+the+most+miserable+ideal+ever+revealed%22&pg=PA87#v=snippet&q=%22Mickey%20Mouse%20is%20the%20most%20miserable%20ideal%20ever%20revealed%22&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="LaCapraDominick">{{Cite book|last=LaCapra|first=Dominick|title=History and Memory After Auschwitz|publisher=Cornell University Press|date=March 1998|page=214|isbn=0-8014-8496-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pBhow2EcLHwC&q=%22Mickey+Mouse+is+the+most+miserable+ideal+ever+revealed%22&pg=PA159|access-date=October 20, 2020|archive-date=November 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129190126/https://books.google.com/books?id=pBhow2EcLHwC&q=%22Mickey+Mouse+is+the+most+miserable+ideal+ever+revealed%22&pg=PA159#v=snippet&q=%22Mickey%20Mouse%20is%20the%20most%20miserable%20ideal%20ever%20revealed%22&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Mickey-Mousing">{{Cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5DB1339F931A3575BC0A964958260|title=On language; Mickey-Mousing|last=Rosenthal|first=Jack|date=August 2, 1992|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=December 30, 2008|archive-date=November 29, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129190146/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/02/magazine/on-language-mickey-mousing.html|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

American cartoonist and writer [[Art Spiegelman]] would later use this quote on the opening page of the second volume of his graphic novel ''[[Maus]]''.

In 1935, Romanian authorities also [[ban (legal)|banned]] Mickey Mouse films from cinemas, purportedly fearing that children would be "scared to see a ten-foot mouse in the movie theatre".<ref>{{cite book |last=Conner|first=Floyd|title=Hollywood's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Lucky Breaks, Prima Donnas, Box Office Bombs, and Other Oddities. illustrated.|publisher=Brassey's Inc.|year=2002|page=243}}</ref> In 1938, based on the [[Ministry of Popular Culture]]'s recommendation that a reform was necessary "to raise children in the firm and imperialist spirit of the Fascist revolution", the [[Italian Government]] banned foreign children's literature<ref>{{Cite news|author=The Times|date=November 16, 1938|url=http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1938-11-16-15-005&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1938-11-16-15&pageId=undefined|page=15|title=The Banning of a Mouse|publisher=The Times Archive|work=[[The Times]]|access-date=July 27, 2010|location=London|archive-date=July 1, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120701114928/http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1938-11-16-15-005&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1938-11-16-15&pageId=undefined|url-status=dead}}</ref> except Mickey; Disney characters were exempted from the decree for the "acknowledged artistic merit" of Disney's work.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Italian Decree: Mickey Mouse Reprieved |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/evening-post/1938/12/23/16 |work=[[The Evening Post (New Zealand)|The Evening Post]] |location=Wellington, New Zealand |volume=CXXVI |issue=151 |date=December 23, 1938 |page=16, column 3 |access-date=August 26, 2010 |archive-date=January 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190124103616/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/evening-post/1938/12/23/16 |url-status=live }}</ref> Actually, Mussolini's children were fond of Mickey Mouse, so they managed to delay his ban as long as possible.<ref>Francesco De Giacomo, ''Quando il duce salvò Topolino'', IF terza serie, n. 4, 1995.</ref> In 1942, after Italy declared war on the United States, Italian publishers were forced to stop printing any Disney stories. Mickey's stories were replaced by the adventures of ''[[Topolino|Tuffolino]]'', a new human character that looked like Mickey, created by [[Federico Pedrocchi]] (script) and [[Pier Lorenzo De Vita]] (art). After the downfall of Italy's fascist government in 1945, the ban was removed.