Article: So Mickey Mouse Is About to Enter the Public Domain. Can Anyone Actually Make Money Off Him?

Steve DiMatteo is a Cleveland-based entrepreneur who’s been thinking about Jan. 1, 2024, for a while. That’s when the 1928 Steamboat Willie version of Mickey Mouse falls into the public domain.

DiMatteo runs the e-commerce site Cleveland Vintage Shirts where he sells clothing with historical city references, like the Aquarama, a 520-foot-long passenger cruise ship that worked the waters between Cleveland and Detroit from 1956 to 1962.

“What if you did a shirt where it was Steamboat Willie steering the ship?” says DiMatteo. “I think that’s a cool idea. Or you could have him doing anything Cleveland sports related. Or eating a pierogi,” the Polish dumplings being particularly popular in the city.

But he’s also cautious. “I’d have to look into what you can and can’t say,” DiMatteo says. Like mentioning the words Mickey Mouse, maybe,…

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So Mickey Mouse Is About to Enter the Public Domain. Can Anyone Actually Make Money Off Him?