# The Public Domain is about to grow! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 20, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442 "2018-12-20T20:15:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/1 "2018-12-20T20:15:16Z")
In a few weeks for the first time in about 20 years a year’s worth of works will be added to the Public Domain. This used to happen every year until the 90s when Disney got the laws rewritten to protect Mickey Mouse from entering. On January 1st works first published in 1923 will be free to use by anyone. A few Highlights: The Picture of Dorian Gray Frost’s Stopping by the Woods… Cecil B DeMille’ Ten Commandments After this year, the yearly progression begins again (unless new laws stop it) which means the Mouse will be Public Domain in 2024. More info [here](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/first-time-20-years-copyrighted-works-enter-public-domain-180971016/). ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/2 "2018-12-20T20:23:14Z")
Dang it! I just bought _The Picture of Dorian Gray_! ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/3 "2018-12-20T20:33:00Z")
I hope this can continue. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/4 "2018-12-20T20:42:06Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > After this year, the yearly progression begins again (unless new laws stop it) which means the Mouse will be Public Domain in 2024. Absolutely not true. _Steamboat Willie_ and _Plane Crazy_ and any other cartoons Mickey appeared in 1928 will go into the public domain. The Mickey Mouse character will not, although others will be free to use those and only those characteristics that were present in those cartoons. Even so, any trademarked aspects of the character will continue on. Whether characteristics that will go into the public domain are trademarked and protected is something an Intellectual property lawyer will have to tell you. In short, you can sell and post and do all the other stuff with _Steamboat Willie_ and _Plane Crazy_ that you can do with other older works, but you are not completely free to use the Mickey Mouse character in original works. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/5 "2018-12-20T20:44:08Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > The Picture of Dorian Gray > Frost’s Stopping by the Woods… > Cecil B DeMille’ Ten Commandments Nitpick, but The Picture of Dorian Gray in novel form was already public domain. What’s becoming public now is “Theodore Pratt’s stage adaptation”. And it’s only the first, silent, C.B. DeMille version of The Ten Commandments that is becoming public domain. The more famous 1956 version is still under copyright. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/6 "2018-12-20T21:36:50Z")
Finally I can make my super hero movie set in the “Stopping by the Woods…” universe. ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/7 "2018-12-20T22:26:52Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Finally I can make my super hero movie set in the “Stopping by the Woods…” universe. "Whose woods these are I think I know… they’re _ **BLACK PANTHER’S!!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/8 "2018-12-20T22:30:52Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Absolutely not true. _Steamboat Willie_ and _Plane Crazy_ and any other cartoons Mickey appeared in 1928 will go into the public domain. The Mickey Mouse character will not, although others will be free to use those and only those characteristics that were present in those cartoons. Even so, any trademarked aspects of the character will continue on. Whether characteristics that will go into the public domain are trademarked and protected is something an Intellectual property lawyer will have to tell you. > > In short, you can sell and post and do all the other stuff with _Steamboat Willie_ and _Plane Crazy_ that you can do with other older works, but you are not completely free to use the Mickey Mouse character in original works. I was going by what the article said. Thank you for clarifying. Although, I am not sure it warrants an “Absolutely not true”. The part about the years starting to progress is 100% true (again, unless they change current law) and the part about MM is more “Not exactly, but…” But thanks for correcting either way. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/9 "2018-12-21T00:28:36Z")
The point is, Disney’s intellectual property is protected by both copyright and trademark law, which cover different things in different ways and have very little overlap. And while some copyrights will soon be ending, Disney can hold onto their trademarks for as long as they want to. Right now, if I take a copy of _Steamboat Willie_ or _Fantasia_ and burn it to a DVD, or post it on YouTube, I can get in trouble for violating copyright. If I draw my own picture of Mickey on a shirt and sell it, I can get in trouble for violating trademark. If I take a still frame from _Steamboat Willie_ or _Fantasia_ and photographically print it on a shirt, I could potentially get in trouble for violating both copyright _and_ trademark (though the copyright case might be debatable). In a few years time, I will, if I like, be allowed to sell DVDs of _Steamboat Willie_ and post it on YouTube, and Disney won’t be able to do a thing about it. But I still won’t be able to do that with _Fantasia_, since it’ll still be under copyright for however many more years. And I still won’t be able to sell the shirts (whether printed or drawn), because those will still be trademark violations. I imagine that Disney’s lawyers are going to have their hands full in the next few years with people who don’t understand this distinction. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/10 "2018-12-21T03:50:09Z")
The first two books I thought of were “A Passage to India” and “An American Tragedy”, but those were published in '24 and '25, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/11 "2018-12-21T03:54:50Z")
> [@EscAlaMike](#): > > Dang it! I just bought _The Picture of Dorian Gray_! That one never gets old. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/12 "2018-12-21T04:29:01Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > That one never gets old. Bravo. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/13 "2018-12-21T04:49:17Z")
Ba-dum-tish! ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/14 "2018-12-21T16:48:47Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > That one never gets old. I think you got that backwards. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2018, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-public-domain-is-about-to-grow/826442/16 "2018-12-21T17:36:02Z")
Reported.