Michael Hiltzik: Mickey Mouse and 'Lady Chatterley's Lover' enter the public domain on Jan. 1, a reminder of our crazy copyright laws
It might be unusual to find Mickey Mouse and "Lady Chatterley's Lover" mentioned in the same breath. But you can chalk up their momentary fellowship to America's copyright laws, under which both are entering the public domain on Jan. 1.
That's because both Mickey and Mellors, the Chatterley estate gamekeeper, made their first published appearance in 1928. The applicable law afforded them copyright protection for 95 years, a term expiring with the arrival of 2024.
Thousands of other works — literary, dramatic and musical — are entering the copyright-free period of their lives, according to the annual select list compiled by Jennifer Jenkins, director of Duke University's Center for the Study of the Public Domain.
Among the new entrants are Bertolt Brecht's "The Threepenny Opera," Virginia Woolf's "Orlando" and W.E.B. Du Bois' "Dark Princess." Also Evelyn Waugh's first published novel, "Decline and Fall," and A.A. Milne's "House at Pooh Corner," which introduced the character of Tigger..)
