A new year means a new start, and for some pieces of media, it means entering the public domain. In 2024, one of the most famous additions to the public domain was the first iteration of Mickey Mouse, ...

Steve Vondran, Esq. is an IP attorney at Vondran Legal® that handles copyright legal issues involving copyright infringement, DMCA, fair use, public domain, creative commons licensing, copyright ...

An early Walt Disney movie featuring the first appearance of Mickey Mouse is among the copyrighted works from 1928 moving into the public domain on Jan. 1, 2024. But the cartoon creature who stars in ...

“When Superman and Batman Copyrights Expire in a Decade, Will It Be Kryptonite for DC?” asked a headline in Variety earlier this year. As dictated by Betteridge ...

For quite some time, copyright laws have shielded many iconic and well-known characters. However, since 2019, some of those existing copyrights have been expiring, meaning that those characters ...

The earliest versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse now belong to the American people. The characters as they appear in the animated short films "Steamboat Willie" and "Plane Crazy" entered the U.S.

The first of January ushers in a new year, a new month and new entries to the list of works in the public domain. While 2024 saw many popular intellectual properties lose copyright protection — ...

The copyright on Mickey Mouse expires today, meaning The Walt Disney Company no longer has the exclusive rights to the character. Does this mean you can put Mickey in your own cartoon? Not exactly.

Some of the properties headed into the public domain on Jan. 1 include the first Marx Brothers' film, William Faulkner's "The Sound and the Fury" and the first appearances of Popeye the Sailor Man.

With 2025 not even a week old, predictions about what the new year has in store have already begun. Maybe a new Rihanna album (don't cross your fingers) or another Super Bowl win for Travis Kelce and ...