By Mike Hiestand
Unfortunately for high school yearbook editors, Mickey Mouse will remain off-limits until 2023.
After heavy lobbying led by the Walt Disney Company and despite heavy opposition by such groups as the American Library Association, President Clinton signed the “Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act” into law in October. The Act allows copyright holders to extend their copyright protection by twenty years. Prior to the extension, works created and published before 1978 were generally limited to a copyright protection period of up to 75 years. After that, the works fell into the “public domain” where they could be used by anyone without the user first having to obtain permission or pay royalties to a copyright owner.
Mickey Mouse, born in 1928, was slated for public domain status in 2003. His pals Pluto, Goofy and Donald Duck were scheduled to join him shortly thereafter. If the law had not been changed, yearbook staffs (and anyone else) would have been free to plaster Mickey on their yearbook covers and adopt Mickey-based themes throughout their publications without fear of being sued for copyright infringement.
Now that will have to wait. Staffs wanting to use Mickey – or any other copyrighted character or work – will continue to have to obtain express permission from the copyright owner or limit their use of such material to “fair use” situations. (“Fair Use” is an exception to the normal requirements of copyright law and allows for the limited use of copyrighted material without permission for purposes of research, education and news reporting, for example.)
While the time limits specified in the new law are subject to a number of exceptions and conditions, which can make things a bit complicated, it is clear that from now on the only works that will always be considered public domain, and thereby available for use by anyone, are those that were published more than 95 years ago. So, fortunately, for next year’s publication staffs planning to use a copy of Monet’s Houses of Parliament, Sun Breaking Through the Fog, painted in 1904, as their yearbook cover art – you’re still good to go!