January 1st is known to most as New Year’s Day and to few as Public domain day.
Public domain release used to occur 50 years after the death of a works creator or 75 years after corporate authorship.
Disney spent decades lobbying what was affectionately known as The Mickey Mouse Act to extend that timeline by twenty years as they dreaded for this very day as the image and artistic contents of Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy are now available – the first appearances of Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
That doesn’t mean that mickey mouse the character is public domain quite yet but it does mean that anything within the confines of the Steamboat Willie and Plane Crazy works can be used by anyone for anything so long as it doesn’t present as anything that gives any idea that it could have been released by Disney themselves.
Disney’s fear was supported last year with the release of low budget slasher flick Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.
Lucky for us terrible horror movie fans, Winnie the Pooh’s bouncy flouncy fun fun fun friend Tigger is also public domain as of this year so we may be in for a sequel.
