Mickey Mouse Will Enter The Public Domain On January 1st

Popular icons Mickey and Minnie Mouse are entering the public domain on January 1st, 2024. Disney will no longer own the exclusive rights to the characters, and anyone, including underground comic writer Dan O’Neill, will be free to use Mickey’s likeness for whatever they want. 

Fifty-three years ago, O’Neill was working on his newest creation, “Air Pirates Funnies,” a comic in which the iconic Mickey Mouse was depicted engaging in very adult behaviors with everything from drug consumption to oral sex. O’Neill sought to create a piece of satirical work using one of America’s most recognizable images of popular consumer culture. However, following the publication, Disney sued O’Neill for copyright infringement. O’Neill argued that his depiction of the much-beloved cartoon mouse was a legal parody, but Disney and the courts disagreed. After a lengthy court battle, a mountain of fines, and legal fees for O’Neill, Disney agreed to drop the charges if O’Neill never drew Mickey Mouse again. 

O’Neill was 53 years old when he started “Air Pirate Funnies,” Variety spoke with the now 81-year-old on the phone. O’Neill said, “It’s still a crime for me. If I draw a picture of Mickey Mouse, I owe Walt Disney a $190,000 fine, $10,000 more legal fees, and a year in prison.” 

Jennifer Jenkins, director of the Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain, who celebrates Public Domain Day every year, publishing list of works that have entered the Public Domain, said, “This is a big one. It’s generating so much excitement in the copyright community- it’s finally happening.” 

The possibilities for what Mickey Mouse will get up to in the new year are endless. The Great Gatsby, Rhapsody in Blue, and Winnie the Pooh, all of which recently entered the public domain, are all possible indicators of what may be in store for Mickey.

“‘Just add zombies’ appears to be a popular thing to do,” Jenkins said. For example, The Great Gatsby Undead and The Great Gatsby and the Zombies have been released on Amazon Prime. Winnie the Pooh has not escaped horror fiction either; the honey-loving bear was recently seen in the slasher film Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey.

Mickey Mouse is now free to fight zombies or any other creature eager creatives can invent. O’Neill said, “We’re stuck with Mickey Mouse. He belongs to everybody.” And for the first time in 95 years, he finally will.