Mickey enters the public domain tomorrow – 12/31/2023 – Ronaldo Lemos

On this 1st, according to United States law, Mickey Mouse enters the public domain. This means that from this date onwards, anyone can tell their own stories with the mouse, print t-shirts, make memes, films and whatever else comes to mind.

It is worth noting that the version of Mickey that enters the public domain this Monday (1st) is the one from 1928. It is already similar to the current version, but there are differences. For example, the white gloves were only put on the mouse in 1929. To use this version you have to wait another year. Another limitation is Disney’s trademark rights. You can use the character as desired, but there cannot be any association or confusion with the Disney brand. New creations need to make this very clear.

Mickey should have entered the public domain 20 years ago. This did not happen because of pressure from several companies, including Disney, which convinced the US Congress to extend the term of protection for copyright works from 75 to 95 years. This decision is now seen as a “big mistake”. These are words from the director of the country’s copyright office at the time, also shared by several Nobel Prize winners. The entire community suffered from this error. For 20 years, new works simply stopped entering the public domain.

Mickey is in glorious company. Under US law, the book “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by DH Lawrence also enters the public domain from today onwards. Brecht’s “Threepenny Opera”. “Orlando” by Virginia Woolf and the book “Nothing New on the Front” by Erich Maria Remarque. All can now be freely adapted, edited, translated, filmed and so on.

In the field of films we have important elevations to the public domain. The film “The Passion of Joan of Arc” by Dreyer and “The Mob” by King Vidor. In addition to the first two films with Mickey, “Steamboat Wilie” and “Plane Crazy”.

In music, the selection is breathtaking. Starting with the phonogram of “Yes! We have no Bananas”, recorded by Billy Jones. The song inspired Braguinha and Alberto Ribeiro to respond to American music, composing: “Yes, Nós Tem Bananas”, transformed into a powerful tropicalist artifact. The composition of Mack The Knife, by Brecht and Kurt Weill, also enters the public domain. And the delicious composition of “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)” by Cole Porter. As well as James P. Johnson’s recording of “Charleston”. What a wonderful year for the public domain!

However, it is worth remembering that the public domain —one of our most precious assets— is always under attack. It is necessary to be attentive and strong so that undue expansions of copyright and trademark rights do not harm this common heritage (“commons”). It is also necessary to be careful against the actions of so-called “copyright trolls”, who seek non-existent rights in exchange for a few pennies, as in Brecht’s work.

There are also lawsuits against OpenAI, an artificial intelligence company, for using copyrighted works to train its models. These actions could change the way we enforce copyright. But that’s a topic for later. Now it’s time to wish us all a Happy New Year!

It’s over – the predominance of adversarial games

Already – the wave of cooperative games

It’s coming – the use of quadratic models for decision making (as on the website Concordamos.com.br)

LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access five free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.