Mickey Mouse will enter the public domain in the year 2024, almost 95 years after his creation on 1 October 1928 – the length of time after which the copyright on an anonymous or pseudo-anonymous body of artistic work expires.
Daniel Mayeda is a seasoned attorney for the media and entertainment industry and the associate director of UCLA School of Law's Documentary Film Legal Clinic. According to him, there are restrictions associated with copyright expiration.
"You can make your own Mickey Mouse stories or stories featuring this character by using the Mickey Mouse character as it was originally designed. But, Disney might theoretically claim that you violated their trademark if you do it in a way that makes people think of them, which is probably the case given how much they have invested in this character.
Disney officially registered the Mickey Mouse character for copyright protection on December 16, 1928, and released "Steamboat Willie" on November 18, 1928.
Disney acquires a new copyright with a new term every time it produces a new Mickey. The original Steamboat Willie was a two-dimensional character with a very long tail and a nose more akin to a rat than a mouse.