Disney Does The Stupid Impossible of Losing Their OWN Copyright As Their Birth Masterpiece "Steamboat Willie" Enters The Public Domain

 It's the beginning of another year and unfortunately it's starting on a sour note for The Walt Disney Company who have just came out of an incredible 100th anniversary centennial milestone. After a wonderous century across the globe, Disney has unfortunately had the stupidity to expire their own copyright on their own mascot.

As the clock strikes midnight on just another Dick Clark New Year's Eve, the very first Walt Disney Company masterpieces Steamboat Willie, Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Groucho, first released to the world on November 18, 1928 is finally entering the Public Domain, which means that the Disney studio's loyal fanbase can do whatever they want with the studio's humble beginnings, with zero copyright infringement lawsuits at all whatsoever. However, they are only limited to make bootleg stuff with the 1928 version only, as Disney still owns the rights for the rest of the Mickey Mouse catalog with its morerecognizable designs of white gloves, red shorts and yellow shoes.

The Walt Disney Company was born on October 16, 1923 and its first characters and the century-old corporation's iconic mascots Mickey & Minnie Mouse were first created by Walt Disney and his shameless disrespected partner Ub Iwerks on November 18, 1928 when Steamboat Willie first hit movie theater screens, which was then followed by the first animated motion picture in history, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, followed by the company's national anthems of Pinocchio and Fantasia in 1940 and the OSCAR® Academy Awards record breaker Mary Poppins in 1964 with millions of other great Disney works to follow after that. And the rest, as they say, has been history.

But here's another interesting piece of trivia for your mouse ears nostalgia, the Mickey Mouse characters were originally shown in prototype form six months earlier in the short Plane Crazy, but the Disney mascot was named Mortimer instead of Mickey. This was changed rapidly due to Walt Disney's wife Lillian Disney told him to change the name of the character because she didn't feel like the name of Mortimer would never stick to the mascot's name very much. Since then, the name Mortimer has been given to Mickey & Minnie's arch nemesis imposter voiced by Maurice LaManche.

And this isn't even the only Disney property to face sudden defeat by the public domain of unfortunate tragic copyright expiration. The 1926 A.A. Milne classic Winnie the Pooh went into the public domain two years ago, which led to the horror movie bootleg ripoff Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey released last year. So it's just a matter of time and also no surprise that we might start seeing illegal Mickey Mouse horror films somewhere down the line.

Donald Duck, voiced by Tony Anselmo and select shorts from the Silly Symphonies series which is a musical retelling of classic fairytales are also set to follow public domain suits in 2025.