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[–] 55 points 2 years ago (2 children)

With white gloves - still under copyright

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  • [–] 24 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Pretty sure they lost the steamboat willie clip, but they still own Mickey Mouse lol. Maybe that's the joke and I woooshed

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    They lost the copyright of the Steamboat Willie characters as well. So the Steamboat willie version of the Mickey Mouse design is in the public domain. All the other Mickey Mouse designs are still under Disney’s copyright and they still own the Mickey Mouse trademark.

    So yes you can use Steamboat Willie Mickey in anything you want and create derivative work.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    They still have a trademark on Mickey mouse, so it's not carte blanche. What extent the trade mark has isn't perfectly clear, but it's pretty powerful.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    As long as you only use this Mickey in artistic work then it’s fine. If you start using it as branding and marketing like slapping that Mickey on a box of cereals then Disney will come after you because they can say your product causes consumer confusion and consumers associate your product with Disney. Which violates the trademark.

    So if you want to make a Steamboat Willie 2 the promotional material needs to be very clear that it’s not a Disney production.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    I'm not totally sure if you could make a sequel under trade mark law since the Mickey character is still trade marked for new works, maybe if it were free it would be ok. If you wanted to use clips from the original work in a music video or something then you should be able to do that.

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  • [–] 17 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Mickey Mouse is still under copyright. You're thinking of Steamboat Willie.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    Parody has always been allowed though. I mean check out Wally Wood's work...https://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/bradfordsauction/33/727133/H22021-L294574096.jpg

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago
    [–] 10 points 2 years ago
    [–] [S] 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)
  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago

    You could always use steam boat willie as long as it was obvious it wasn't made by Disney

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Wait, is there a channel of perfectly flat grey water, or is the ship sliding over asphalt?

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    I like how the steam is getting sucked back into the second smoke stack.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Yeah, a lot of people are missing the point of this whole thing. Only the 1928 Steamboat Willie version of the character is in public domain. Most of these AI-generated examples contain features of later versions of Mickey (in particular the later, rounder head shape which is more like Fantasia-era Mickey), so these would likely still fall under copyright.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    Not to be pedantic, but that doesn’t resemble the Steamboat Willie version, which is the one in the public domain. That looks more like modern Mickey, which is still under copyright. The SW version has smaller ears and a longer nose.

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