When Copyright law was first introduced in the United States it guaranteed protection only for 14 years. Today it protects your creation for more than 100 years. Many copyright experts feel that this change can be owed to a tiny mouse from the house of The Walt Disney Company.
Mickey Mouse first appeared in ‘Steamboat Willie’ in 1928 and back then the 1909 Copyright Act gave creators the right for their work for 28 years with an option to renew for another 28 years. On completion of these 56 years, creative work would enter the public domain, free for anyone to use. Based on this law Mickey should have entered the public domain in 1984.
But, in 1976 with 8 years left for Mickey in the Copyright Act, Congress passed a new Copyright Act for works that were not yet in the public domain or were still protected by the old Copyright Act. Based on this new Copyright Act, Copyright protection would last for 75 years instead of 56 years. So, according to the new law, the Copyright on Mickey would expire in 2003.
However, 2003 was not meant to be the year for Mickey to go public. Under a lot of pressure from the Walt Disney Company, the congressmen passed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 (with 5 years remaining for Mickey to go public) extending protection to Mickey and all those produced in 1923 or later, until 2019 or later.
So, according to the existing law, Mickey is set to go public in 2024. With Democrats overseeing affairs this time around will the Walt Disney company have its way? We will find that out soon.
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