By design, copyrights can exist for only a certain amount of time. In the United States, for creative productions that appeared before 1978, that time is 95 years. (After 1978, the U.S. Patent Office changed the rules, such that most U.S. copyrights issued today last for the lifetime of the creator, plus 70 years.) A little quick math, and you realize that everything published in 1928 has lost its copyright protections. A little quick history lesson, and you realize why this particular annual milestone is significant: 1928 saw the introduction of a wealth of globally known, nearly universally recognized characters. A selected list includes Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, and Peter Pan. Because the initial versions of each of these characters first came into being in 1928, today’s creative artists, marketers, and advertisers can use them freely and for any purpose. They need to take some care though; the version of Mickey Mouse that is now accessible to the public is only the one that appeared in Disney’s first film featuring him, Steamboat Willie. More recent versions still fall under strict protections. But artists should not necessarily feel limited by that requirement. Copyright protection applies to various other artistic works, including songs and literature. That means that anyone can leverage the once-scandalous plot of Lady Chatterley’s Lover or the sounds of “Mack the Knife” and “The Charleston” in their current artistic endeavors, without fear of reprisal—at least in a legal sense. Nobody had better turn Winnie the Pooh into a murderous psychopath or anything, or they will be in big trouble with us.*

*Too late. Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey is terrifyingly slated for release in early 2024.

Sources: Sopan Deb, “These Classic Characters Are Losing Copyright Protection. They May Never Be the Same,” The New York Times, January 1, 2024; Darryn King, “Oh Much More than Bother: This Winnie the Pooh Is Terrifying,” The New York Times, February 9, 2023