Mickey Mouse Puts the ‘AI’ in Public Dom‘AI’n

Happy New Year Mickey Mouse! With a simple turn of the calendar, you and Minnie just entered a whole new world – the public domain. That means that anyone can – and many will – create entirely new works starring you (at least the original incarnation of you from “Steamboat Willie”), without the need for obtaining any license, payment or cheese of any kind. 

That’s why you, the original friendly mouse, will now star in a just-announced slasher film “Mickey’s Mouse Trap” coming later this year. And you’re not alone. You’re following your animated pal Winnie the Pooh into the public domain’s wild west, because Pooh too just went dark.