I read in some type of Business Article in school that the copyright for MICKEY MOUSE expires in 2003, is this true? Does anyone have an info about this? Please let me know asap. This is very sad news I have been thinking about all week long. Thank u.

Mickey Mouse= Disney only!!!

Look in the Buisness fourm, there are lots of threads about it.

What it boils down to is specific forms of Mickey, they already exteded the rights to the early images of mickey longer than normal anyway.

The copyight on the earliest version of Mickey Mouse is set to expire soon after a couple of extensions. Disney is currently battling to extend it again. The later versions of Mickey are still protected under copyright law, and are also protected under Trademark law, which never expires. Here are some links to the other threads discussing this.

http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10554
http://mousepad.mouseplanet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=10543

Originally posted by Ghoulish Delight
The copyight on the earliest version of Mickey Mouse is set to expire soon after a couple of extensions. Disney is currently battling to extend it again.

As a minor correction, the law to extend the copyright has already passed and is officially on the books right now. Currently, the expiration for the copyright on "Steamboat Willie" won't be until 2023.

The law that granted that extension is being challenged in the Supreme Court. If the court rules that the law is unconstitutional, then the copyright will expire in 2003. At that point, it would theoretically be possible for companies/individuals other than Disney to distribute the short (as well as other early shorts as their copyrights expire) and even produce derivative works.

The first person or company that tries to exploit the lapsed copyrights will likely be met with a challenge from Disney on the grounds of trademark violation. It is pretty much untested as to whether Disney's trademark on Mickey Mouse (which never expires) would prevent distribution or creation of derivatives of public domain works featuring the character.

-Jeff