Remove 2024 Remove Intellectual Property Law Remove Public Domain Remove Trademark Law
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Free Mickey? (Don’t Be Goofy)

LexBlog IP

January 1, 2024, brought numerous hangovers along with an unprecedented amount of media attention to intellectual property law. Freed from the shackles of copyright, Walt Disney’s iconic rodent was now in the public domain and, therefore, available for everyone to copy. But not so fast.

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Is the Happiest Place on Earth About to Lose its Smiling Face?

LexBlog IP

copyright protection in 2024. Since only the “Steamboat Willie” cartoon version of Mickey is going out of copyright protection, every other version of Mickey Mouse that Disney has created since 1928 will still be protected on January 1, 2024. While copyright protection expires, trademark protection does not.