The 95-year copyright protection period is approaching, and Disney may lose the copyright of Mickey Mouse-Industry News-Shenzhen deep trust patent Agency Co., LTD

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The 95-year copyright protection period is approaching, and Disney may lose the copyright of Mickey Mouse

Release Time：

2022-07-14

Disney's protection of copyright is well-known in the industry. Due to its emphasis on copyright issues and its super-strong legal team, Disney is almost invincible in its rights protection lawsuits. So much so that netizens call Disney’s legal team “the most powerful legal department on the planet.” Therefore, many netizens joked, "I believe that the Disney Legal Department may be able to continue for another 95 years."

Have you heard that the copyright protection period of Mickey Mouse IP image is about to expire? Disney may soon lose exclusive rights to the 95-year-old image. As soon as the news came out, related topics rushed to the hot search list.

"The whole world is urging you to grow up, but Disney is accompanying you to dream." For a long time, Mickey Mouse has become a symbol of the Disney company. It generates billions of dollars in revenue for Disney every year. The Disney business empire is too much careful calculation. The business empire of Disney is using its rich IP images and stories to accompany you in your dreams.

Prior to this, the copyright period of the Mickey Mouse image had been extended twice; the first change occurred in the 1970s, when the copyright period was 56 years. According to the laws at the time, Disney would lose Mickey's copyright in 1984. However, after strong lobbying by Disney and other companies, the U.S. Congress passed the extension of the copyright term to the life of the creator plus 50 years after death, and the company's copyright is 75 years after the work is published.

The second time was in 1998. When the 75-year copyright period for works created in 1923 was about to expire, Disney once again lobbied and the new copyright law, nicknamed the "Mickey Mouse Extension Act," was passed in 1998, and the copyright protection period was extended again. It was extended by 20 years and eventually became 95 years.

First of all, even if it is not extended, the copyright of the original Mickey Mouse from 1928 will expire. The development history of Mickey Mouse has gone through many generations. I believe Disney will still retain the image of "Mickey" by modifying some images.

Secondly, even if the IP enters the public domain, it does not mean that others can modify and use it at will. As a copyright madman, Disney has applied for trademarks for almost all of its animated images. The trademarks are valid; then, the image of Mickey Mouse is still Belongs to The Disney Company.

To sum up, trademarks and copyrights are complementary to each other. If conditions are sufficient, it is recommended to register copyrights and trademarks at the same time. With the advancement of the Internet era, there are more and more cases of infringement and piracy of original works. In order to avoid disputes in the future, the simplest way is to make arrangements for intellectual property protection in advance and register copyrights and trademarks at the same time.

Professional knowledge sharing

Commodity classification principles:

(1) Goods are finished products and are classified according to function or use in principle.

(2) The goods are multi-functional combined finished products and should be classified according to their main functions or uses.

(3) Goods are raw materials, unprocessed products or semi-finished products, and in principle they are classified according to their raw materials.

(4) When commodities are classified according to their raw materials, if they are made of several different raw materials, they shall in principle be classified according to their main raw materials.

(5) If a commodity forms part of other products, and the commodity cannot be used for other purposes under normal circumstances, the commodity shall in principle be classified in the same category as the product it constitutes.

(6) Special containers used to hold goods are in principle classified into the same category as the goods.

"Used for" here means specially used, that is, the special container is specially designed to hold the product and has a special shape and style.

Source: Trademark Circle

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