NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As we start 2026, you may have heard familiar names like Betty Boop, Nancy Drew, and Mickey Mouse's dog Pluto have all entered what's called the public domain. It's all to do with works introduced in 1930. The story of how things exist in the public domain is fairly complicated.
What is the public domain? An example is this; starting in 2025, I could air a clip of the historic Disney animated short, Steamboat Willie. Before then, I couldn't. That's because enough time has passed that it's gone into the public domain, and it can be aired or posted without any copyright concerns.
For works as old as Steamboat Willie, you take the year something's released, add 95 years. The following January 1 is when that work goes into the public domain.
Still, this is a tricky subject. That's something Ryan Levy of Patterson Intellectual Property Law knows all about.
"It's so much easier to publish information than it used to be, from influencers to bloggers to TikTok," Levy said. "A lot of information sometimes comes from someone else, and that's where you see a lot of the problems with intellectual property. A lot of people don't understand the bounds which you can use other people's material."
Here's an example of what Levy means. The Betty Boop that just entered the public domain is specifically the version seen in 1930's Dizzy Dishes.
"When you see items enter the public domain, it's certain years at a time," Levy said. "What we often see is evolution of these cartoons. There are a lot of changes and iterations to Betty Boop. The first version of Betty Boop was doglike, had poodle-like features. That version has just entered the public domain. People can use that character, but you have to be careful here because there are versions of Betty Boop not in the public domain yet. You might have the original Steamboat Willie enter the public domain, but other versions of Mickey Mouse with the gloves or other characteristics later on might not be."
There are a lot of exceptions. 1959's House on Haunted Hill and 1968's Night of the Living Dead famously fell into the public domain because of copyright renewal issues.
Of course, in Nashville, there's a lot of interest in what happens to music when it falls into the public domain.
"People can then reproduce that music or play that original recording as it was," Levy said. "For example, some of Gershwin's music went into the public domain. As a result, people can use that sheet music, reproduce that sheet music, as well as use that original recording. That doesn't mean you can take a recording from someone else famous in 1950, but you can use the sheet music as it existed in 1930."
There are also hurdles in using a character for a business.
"You have this whole other thing with Mickey," Levy said. "He's a trademark. If you're using Mickey Mouse in the business sense, that could also cause issues."
Honestly, it's even more complicated than all of this. Public domain for works after 1978 have different rules. In those cases, a work generally enters the public domain 70 years after the death of the author.
Levy just has this general advice.
"Just be careful using any work that you have not created," he said.
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