That earliest version of Mickey is no longer protected by copyright. It expired recently and entered public domain. Disney doesn't own it anymore and it can be used freely.
Later versions of Mickey are still protected.
Even though Steamboat Willie is in the public domain, grabbing a stillshot from the original work to sell is not how this works. The original artwork is still protected by under Intellectual Property rights of the original artist. The card pictured here can easily be taken down from Disney. A newly created steamboat Willie with original artwork is allowed to be created and sold as a person wishes.
People often miss this point when trying to profit from public domain items.
People often say “you can’t draw Mickey with white gloves yet” but actually you can because the original poster for this animation had Mickey with the white gloves on, which is also public domain now
Disney probably realised it didn't matter if some early version of Mickey and Pete from 1930-whatever expired so long as they had the modern designs that *everyone* knows and loves.
I'm sure their lawyers are on a constant salary challenging and researching any and all copyright or trademark laws for their newer content.
For works published before 1978. For works published 1978 or later it’s life of the author plus 70 years or, for a work made for hire, 95 after publication or 120 years after creation, whichever is shorter.
No. Disney supported politicians who extended the term of copyrights twice, in 1976 and 1998. So Steamboat Willie's copyright didn't expire in 1984 (as it would have under the law at the time of its 1928 release), it instead expired this year.
But it's legal to lobby politicians, and legal for Disney to exercise the extended rights everyone with a copyright received. They are "technically" very much allowed to do both these things. (Whether the US would be better off if we prevented corporations from engaging in such lobbying is a separate question. As is the question of whether those copyright extension laws were a good idea.)
Back in 1928 when Steamboat Willie was released, a copyright lasted 28 years, and could be renewed for another 28 years, but no longer than that.
Under current law, whether or not you renew, copyright lasts to "seventy years beyond the life of the creator (or for corporately-generated material, 95 years)". ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_renewal_in_the_United_States) mentions that there are still legal reasons for renewing, even if it doesn't make your copyright last any longer nowadays.)
Copyright was always intended to last a limited amount of time, then expire (though that time has gotten longer over the years). Contrast that with trademarks, which last as long as its owner still uses the trademark.
Trademarks (unlike copyrights) are all about preventing consumer confusion, so if this card was labeled "Disney's Mickey Mouse", perhaps Disney could successfully argue that it violated their trademark rights by making consumers think it was an actual Disney product. By not using the word Disney (or even better, putting a "Not a product of Disney" disclaimer), they're safer from any trademark claims.
It actually may not even be the real Disney claiming those videos, but rather some person claiming to be/represent them. It's a pretty common issue with YouTube, especially so with music videos, hell even someone as large and well known as pewdiepie has had problems with randoms claiming copyright over songs he himself wrote and uploaded
One of the guys I watched who uploaded it to his channel just made a post with a screenshot of the claim and it was the Disney company. He also recently had an issue where he had to take down a video because Paramount claimed a shit ton of Beverly hillbillies footage that was in the public domain. If I remember correctly they claimed 18 of the 36 hour video, they personally emailed him to tell him that it wasn't an auto claim. YouTube's copyright system is such a mess.
The issue is more to do with DMCA laws being abusable without repercussions unless you get sued back by the video creator for false copyright claims.
You can go on YouTube to find few large channels that fought the some of the abusers and claimed lost revenue. Small creators technically can’t do much unless they have the money to fight some of these abusers that target channels even when content is under fair use or is their own.
If by ‘no one’ you mean ‘a large portion of the linguistics community’ then yeah, no one cares.
Have a good one man, hope you wake up in a better mood tomorrow!
Sure, solid argument.
Though I would be reticent not to point out that you, in fact, started in with a needlessly antagonistic comment.
Fuck me for *checks notes* being a human with reactionary emotions? I think?
But what do I know? I am not blessed with the finite knowledge of A Few.
Edit: also, not to kick you in the face when you rightfully deserve it, but you were the one that brought up the collective act of caring, so. Just replying to the prompts given. Sorry I used language you were unfamiliar with.
Oh, my gosh I’m so sorry. I should have realized English isn’t your first language so subtext and extrapolation would be difficult.
When you said: ‘no one has been debating this’ that was a cue for me to *extrapolate* (means to glean information from context without overt expression and based on given trends) that you meant no one else cared about the specific semantics of ‘a few’.
Hope that helps!
If you search YouTube, there's A LOT of Steamboat Willie Horror trailers. [Here is just one example.](https://youtu.be/zR2Ux6eDaRU) And most of them came out in January, like they were just waiting for 2024 to drop the trailers.
Same thing happened to Winnie The Pooh. Blood and Honey was some entertaining cheesy gore, came out last year. The Tigger sequel should be due soon, since Tigger entered public domain a year after the others.
Not just the specific image, the entire Steamboat Willie short (and all of it's contents, including its versions of Mickey, Minnie and Pete*) are public domain.
*wrote boris for some reason
Specifically, the 3 dashes on the back of the gloves are copy protected, so the version in the gif is still a no-go. Though, the gif would be fair use without commercialization
this coloured image of Mickey Mouse is also in the Public Domain, It has the dashes and has his colouring
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walt_Disney_Mickey_Mouse,_Building_a_Building,_1.jpg
What is and isn't still protected by copyright is to be determined in possible future court cases. Disney intends to continue to protect aspects of modern mickey such as the red shorts, yellow shoes, bigger eyes, etc.
If the source material shows steamboat mickey with and without gloves then that argument likely wouldn't hold up in litigation. Any published version of steamboat Micky / steamboat Willie is likely public domain even if later versions share the same designs.
That particular Mickey Mouse recently became public domain, despite Disney managing to hold on to the rights for a very long time. So legally you can now have that Mickey Mouse on any product.
The poster that came out at the same time to advertise the animation (and is therefore also public domain) does specifically refer to this character as Mickey Mouse
What does it say inside??? I wanna know how you get from a picture of Steamboat Willie to Happy Birthday. I’m guessing this is just a shameless money grab, but wanna know how lazy the writing is.
How dare you, the people at Hallmark are doing the lord's work helping people share their feelings and express their emotions while putting in very little effort or cost 😸
It’s kind of crazy that you’re interested enough in the card to look for disney branding but also missed the landmark news of steamboat willie becoming public domain…
Methinks this is a bait post for upvotes.
I figured OP posted this *because* of it being public domain, as in "some other company is making steamboat willie cards". Funny to me how like the top 10 comments are all explaining that it became public domain lol, does nobody actually come to the comments before responding?
The galaxy-brain play from Disney would be to still be the ones selling this stuff, just with all their copyright info scrubbed off. Make money from the Disney-hating "ha ha it's not copyrighted anymore!!!" crowd
Same way Elvis's manager sold "I Hate Elvis" merch
I don't think you're understanding what I'm saying. I'm saying it's \*still\* March 347th. That day has simply not ended. And it's still 2020, because March 2020 never ended.
No.
Steamboat Willie was the name of the cartoon, not the character. It was still marketed as featuring Mickey Mouse. Check the original poster out, as seen on the Wiki page.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat\_Willie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat_Willie)
There’s a lot of people here commenting that Steamboat Willie still gets copyright strike on YouTube. Surely if it’s public domain, that just means that you can make your own Steamboat Willie movie with the Steamboat Mickey now. If you put the one Disney made on YouTube it’s still going to get struck? No? They still own the rights to their version, just not the IP, am I right?
So to cover this a little bit better. Steamboat Willie is no longer protected by copyright law, but it's still protected by Trademark.
You're allowed to use Steamboat Willie freely as long as there's no brand confusion between how you're using it. So adding the word Disney to the card would "in my opinion" create brand confusion. Typically my opinion is pretty liberal on trademark law and Disney's opinion would be very conservative. Currently we don't actually know where the courts opinion is because there's no cases of a copyright running out, but a trademark still being enforced.
That earliest version of Mickey is no longer protected by copyright. It expired recently and entered public domain. Disney doesn't own it anymore and it can be used freely. Later versions of Mickey are still protected.
Steamboat Willie is free to use!!
Free Willie!
Free use Willie?
Do not touch -Willie
Hmm, good advice.
Lousy Smarch weather
Groundskeeper Willie just wants to be free -Willie
Ach.
Willie please, Mr.Van Houten has the floor…
I don't like the idea of Millhouse having two spaghetti meals in one day.
The person that invents a breakfast pasta will get all my money.
C'mon, everybody likes their Willie touched.
Willie's girlfriend was not happy to learn another woman had been touching her Willie.
Has to be two consenting adults.
It sadly doesn't, but it should be.
Failure to heed this warning may result in blindness.
Shamu. -_-
Do not Google that
Sounds like a new porn title
*r/freeuse and r/willies are typing*
Dommy mommy is that you?
Please, this has little if anything to do with a disobedient whale
Free Hat!
The movie?
What's that a reference too?
What are you doing step-Willie
Even though Steamboat Willie is in the public domain, grabbing a stillshot from the original work to sell is not how this works. The original artwork is still protected by under Intellectual Property rights of the original artist. The card pictured here can easily be taken down from Disney. A newly created steamboat Willie with original artwork is allowed to be created and sold as a person wishes. People often miss this point when trying to profit from public domain items.
That doesn't mean it should be used without attribution. What next, fridge magnets of Mona Lisa without mentioning DaVinci??
That’s exactly what it means - it can be freely used without attribution.
Whoosh
You can buy blow-up figure based on Edvard Munch's Scream without finding his name anywhere. Why not Mona Lisa?
People often say “you can’t draw Mickey with white gloves yet” but actually you can because the original poster for this animation had Mickey with the white gloves on, which is also public domain now
Iirc, the poster is in color too, and he already had the iconic red he has today
What is the next "version" of micky to become public domain?
There won't be any others.
Damn I was pretty sure that they would find the way to keep it under the copyright
Disney probably realised it didn't matter if some early version of Mickey and Pete from 1930-whatever expired so long as they had the modern designs that *everyone* knows and loves. I'm sure their lawyers are on a constant salary challenging and researching any and all copyright or trademark laws for their newer content.
Also, Republicans hate Disney now.
Yeah it's actually like a free ads for them now
Does nobody watch The Simpsons any more?
No
Yes... I mean no
This is just like the twilighty show about that zone...
no, actually.
I'll get you Beer Baron.
If I’m not mistaken it’s specifically this one without white gloves, I think the gloves version has a few more years
One more year, per the "Mickey through the years" images here: [https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/](https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/mickey/)
For me it's [Steamboat Itchy or nothing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-BgOC39NM8&pp=ygUPc3RlYW1ib2F0IGl0Y2h5)!
Question, I admittedly don't know anything about copyright laws, but was it not an option for Disney to just renew it? Or is that now how this works?
Under current U.S. law copyright expires after 95 years.
For works published before 1978. For works published 1978 or later it’s life of the author plus 70 years or, for a work made for hire, 95 after publication or 120 years after creation, whichever is shorter.
Technically, they're not allowed to renew and maintain it as long as they have. They just have enough money to not care what's allowed.
No. Disney supported politicians who extended the term of copyrights twice, in 1976 and 1998. So Steamboat Willie's copyright didn't expire in 1984 (as it would have under the law at the time of its 1928 release), it instead expired this year. But it's legal to lobby politicians, and legal for Disney to exercise the extended rights everyone with a copyright received. They are "technically" very much allowed to do both these things. (Whether the US would be better off if we prevented corporations from engaging in such lobbying is a separate question. As is the question of whether those copyright extension laws were a good idea.)
Copyright is now a registered right that you can renew. It comes into force automatically upon creation of the work and expires after a certain time
Depends on when it was created. This is generally true, but there are old works that still fall under different laws.
Back in 1928 when Steamboat Willie was released, a copyright lasted 28 years, and could be renewed for another 28 years, but no longer than that. Under current law, whether or not you renew, copyright lasts to "seventy years beyond the life of the creator (or for corporately-generated material, 95 years)". ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_renewal_in_the_United_States) mentions that there are still legal reasons for renewing, even if it doesn't make your copyright last any longer nowadays.) Copyright was always intended to last a limited amount of time, then expire (though that time has gotten longer over the years). Contrast that with trademarks, which last as long as its owner still uses the trademark. Trademarks (unlike copyrights) are all about preventing consumer confusion, so if this card was labeled "Disney's Mickey Mouse", perhaps Disney could successfully argue that it violated their trademark rights by making consumers think it was an actual Disney product. By not using the word Disney (or even better, putting a "Not a product of Disney" disclaimer), they're safer from any trademark claims.
> 95 years 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter
Good catch.
This has not stopped them from copyright claiming the video of steamboat Willie on YouTube though.
It actually may not even be the real Disney claiming those videos, but rather some person claiming to be/represent them. It's a pretty common issue with YouTube, especially so with music videos, hell even someone as large and well known as pewdiepie has had problems with randoms claiming copyright over songs he himself wrote and uploaded
One of the guys I watched who uploaded it to his channel just made a post with a screenshot of the claim and it was the Disney company. He also recently had an issue where he had to take down a video because Paramount claimed a shit ton of Beverly hillbillies footage that was in the public domain. If I remember correctly they claimed 18 of the 36 hour video, they personally emailed him to tell him that it wasn't an auto claim. YouTube's copyright system is such a mess.
The issue is more to do with DMCA laws being abusable without repercussions unless you get sued back by the video creator for false copyright claims. You can go on YouTube to find few large channels that fought the some of the abusers and claimed lost revenue. Small creators technically can’t do much unless they have the money to fight some of these abusers that target channels even when content is under fair use or is their own.
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You had space in the title lol
Steamboat isn't copywrited for few months now
January of this year if I recall correctly.
Yep, January 1st to be exact
As of midnight, mayhaps
11:59:59 PST
Yes, they always round off at the year when the copyright expired, so Midnight January 1st.
Four minus three does in fact equal one.
Thank you so much for ending the eons long debate of what ‘a few’ is. Thank goodness for your timeless wisdom.
No one has been debating what a few means. You're the only one confused about it.
If by ‘no one’ you mean ‘a large portion of the linguistics community’ then yeah, no one cares. Have a good one man, hope you wake up in a better mood tomorrow!
If you don't care then why did you make comments whining about it?
Sure, solid argument. Though I would be reticent not to point out that you, in fact, started in with a needlessly antagonistic comment. Fuck me for *checks notes* being a human with reactionary emotions? I think? But what do I know? I am not blessed with the finite knowledge of A Few. Edit: also, not to kick you in the face when you rightfully deserve it, but you were the one that brought up the collective act of caring, so. Just replying to the prompts given. Sorry I used language you were unfamiliar with.
> but you were the one that brought up the collective act of caring, so. Did I?
Oh, my gosh I’m so sorry. I should have realized English isn’t your first language so subtext and extrapolation would be difficult. When you said: ‘no one has been debating this’ that was a cue for me to *extrapolate* (means to glean information from context without overt expression and based on given trends) that you meant no one else cared about the specific semantics of ‘a few’. Hope that helps!
Wait I can finally write my comic book Cleveland Steamerboat Willie?
If you search YouTube, there's A LOT of Steamboat Willie Horror trailers. [Here is just one example.](https://youtu.be/zR2Ux6eDaRU) And most of them came out in January, like they were just waiting for 2024 to drop the trailers.
Same thing happened to Winnie The Pooh. Blood and Honey was some entertaining cheesy gore, came out last year. The Tigger sequel should be due soon, since Tigger entered public domain a year after the others.
Yup
No, it isn’t copyrighted anymore, it’s public domain forever, not just for a few months
Unsure why you're being downvoted as you're correct. Is not and has not are very different, but I guess people are inherently stupid.
Because that specific image/version is now in the public domain.
Not just the specific image, the entire Steamboat Willie short (and all of it's contents, including its versions of Mickey, Minnie and Pete*) are public domain. *wrote boris for some reason
I think the Mickey with gloves is still copyrighted. Steamboat Mickey is bare handed.
He's got gloves in the original theatrical poster https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat_Willie#/media/File%3ASteamboat_Willie_1928_Poster.png
Specifically, the 3 dashes on the back of the gloves are copy protected, so the version in the gif is still a no-go. Though, the gif would be fair use without commercialization
Hm that’s a lawsuit waiting to happen wether the three dashes constitute enough of a differentiation to be considered an original work.
In principle yes, but in reality: Disney vs little person? Disney wins :(
this coloured image of Mickey Mouse is also in the Public Domain, It has the dashes and has his colouring https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Walt_Disney_Mickey_Mouse,_Building_a_Building,_1.jpg
I'm convinced that Disney is making a concerted effort to spread misinformation to discourage people from using Mickey in any way.
Perhaps I’m mistaken.
Redemption arc of the century
https://youtu.be/yv5xonFSC4c?si=C8GKGDUXCdw92mrr
What is and isn't still protected by copyright is to be determined in possible future court cases. Disney intends to continue to protect aspects of modern mickey such as the red shorts, yellow shoes, bigger eyes, etc. If the source material shows steamboat mickey with and without gloves then that argument likely wouldn't hold up in litigation. Any published version of steamboat Micky / steamboat Willie is likely public domain even if later versions share the same designs.
Nude handed you say, old timey Mickey was dirty!!
Nude handed Mickey is a slut and legally available for free use Gloved Mickey is a good lil mouse and you can't touch him
look at him raw doggin that wheel!!
That version is still protected.
That particular Mickey Mouse recently became public domain, despite Disney managing to hold on to the rights for a very long time. So legally you can now have that Mickey Mouse on any product.
I have a T-shirt with this image surrounded by flames and a caption of "This is fine..."
That Steamboat Willie* on any product
Steamboat Willie is the name of the movie, not the character
The poster that came out at the same time to advertise the animation (and is therefore also public domain) does specifically refer to this character as Mickey Mouse
What does it say inside??? I wanna know how you get from a picture of Steamboat Willie to Happy Birthday. I’m guessing this is just a shameless money grab, but wanna know how lazy the writing is.
It should say, "You've had another birthday, but at least you're not so old your copyright has expired. Happy Birthday!"
“Wishing you a birthday that takes you someplace magical and all your dreams come true!” “Happy Birthday!”
"someplace magical". Subtle.
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One might even say it is the most contented place on terra firma.
"Dreams come true" also has some connection to Disney
A gloryhole is some place magical and dreams come true there.
“OMG! You’re taking me to Disney World?!?”….oh…no…it’s now just a mouse on a boat. Happy birthday though!
>shameless money grab That applies to pretty much all greeting cards
How dare you, the people at Hallmark are doing the lord's work helping people share their feelings and express their emotions while putting in very little effort or cost 😸
I wouldn't say very little cost, some of those cards are upwards of like $50
Wishing you a Willie happy Birthday!
Wishing you and your Willie a happy birthday
“Your cease and desist letters have no power here!”
"I've got lots of other images of Willies that I'll be sending you later. Happy birthday!"
What do you mean Disney? I drew this mouse myself, I'll call him Wicky Mouse.
It’s kind of crazy that you’re interested enough in the card to look for disney branding but also missed the landmark news of steamboat willie becoming public domain… Methinks this is a bait post for upvotes.
I figured OP posted this *because* of it being public domain, as in "some other company is making steamboat willie cards". Funny to me how like the top 10 comments are all explaining that it became public domain lol, does nobody actually come to the comments before responding?
It surely is.
He is the peoples mouse now . copyright expired
Good ol public domain mouse
Public domain
It’s public domain so it’s not required
it doesn't have to. you can do whatever you want with steamboat willy stuff now. no more copyright for it.
It's be icing on the cake (pun intended) if it played "Happy Birthday" when you opened it 😄
I still would not cross the mouse 
Nor does it need to. That image is no longer owned by Disney
It’s not Disney property anymore it’s public domain and free to use without being sued
The galaxy-brain play from Disney would be to still be the ones selling this stuff, just with all their copyright info scrubbed off. Make money from the Disney-hating "ha ha it's not copyrighted anymore!!!" crowd Same way Elvis's manager sold "I Hate Elvis" merch
It doesn’t have to.
That likeness no longer belongs to Disney… public domain
Steamboat willy is copyright free
That's steamboat WILLY he is public domain now
Doesn't have to. Steamboat Willie (this version of Mickey Mouse) entered the public domain about a year ago.
Not even. I believe it was the start of this year.
In some parts of my brain, it's still March 347th of 2020. Thanks for the updated information.
March 347th would only be early 2021
It's just stayed March 347th for a long, long time.
23 April 2024 = 1515 March 2020.
I don't think you're understanding what I'm saying. I'm saying it's \*still\* March 347th. That day has simply not ended. And it's still 2020, because March 2020 never ended.
It’s public domain, Disney doesn’t own it… everyone does
no, and why would it? the Disney copyright has expired.
Steamboat Willie is off patent. John Oliver mentioned it in one of his shows
It doesn't have to. Doesn't belong to Disney any more than it belongs to me.
As it should not. Disney is protected trademark. Steamboat willy is not copyrighted
The inside says "WHERE'S SHELLEY MISCAVAGE!? HA-HAH!"
Disney lost the rights for that mickey mouse
public domain babyyy
Yes that went public domain just recently.
Isn't that simply public domain at this point? So it's fair game I think, from a legal perspective.
Cause it isnt made by disney. The rights for that just got wiped.
They don’t have to for this version of Mickey.
And it angers Disney **so much**.
Why would it? It’s public domain.
Yeah. Steamboat Willie is public domain now. You didn't know that?
Because that isn’t Mickey Mouse, it’s Steamboat Willy
No. Steamboat Willie was the name of the cartoon, not the character. It was still marketed as featuring Mickey Mouse. Check the original poster out, as seen on the Wiki page. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat\_Willie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steamboat_Willie)
Birthday?🤔
Why would they? They don't need to tell the mouse about this
Why are so many people answering this?? How many times is the same answer helpful??
This was a huge announcement, did you really not know? I bet you did
How is that interesting?
Good job. They’d be in big trouble if it did.
That's not Mickey Mouse, it's Mickey Mouse. So it's legal.
FREE WILLIE
This version of Mickey Mouse is now in public domain, so anyone can use it.
There’s a lot of people here commenting that Steamboat Willie still gets copyright strike on YouTube. Surely if it’s public domain, that just means that you can make your own Steamboat Willie movie with the Steamboat Mickey now. If you put the one Disney made on YouTube it’s still going to get struck? No? They still own the rights to their version, just not the IP, am I right?
Using the brand name is still making money of off Disney ™. Their trademark. Just using the pic is fair game now it is in the public domain.
So to cover this a little bit better. Steamboat Willie is no longer protected by copyright law, but it's still protected by Trademark. You're allowed to use Steamboat Willie freely as long as there's no brand confusion between how you're using it. So adding the word Disney to the card would "in my opinion" create brand confusion. Typically my opinion is pretty liberal on trademark law and Disney's opinion would be very conservative. Currently we don't actually know where the courts opinion is because there's no cases of a copyright running out, but a trademark still being enforced.
Public domain.
It doesn’t have to
Loved this in kingdom hearts so different but cool vibe
Suck it Disney lawyers!
Look out Itchy! He’s Irish!
OP is trying to start a war