Disney May Finally Lose their Mickey Mouse Copyright

The Walt Disney Company’s transformation from American family-values entertainment giant to beleaguered gay-activist organization has been dramatic.

Disney’s woke response to Florida’s new “Parental Rights in Education Law,” or the “Don’t Say Gay” law, as the law’s opponents have dubbed it, has cost the corporation billions of dollars and an unfathomable amount of goodwill, and now, if a leading Republican senator has his way, the firm might lose its rights to Mickey Mouse.

According to The New York Post, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) introduced legislation on May 10 that would limit Disney’s copyright protection for its near-sacred cartoon rodent to 56 years. The new legislation comes only weeks after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis passed a bill stripping Disney World of its self-governing status in Orlando.

“The age of Republican handouts to Big Business is over,” Hawley said in a statement. “Thanks to special copyright protections from Congress, woke corporations like Disney have earned billions while increasingly pandering to woke activists.”

The Rights Clause Restoration Act would effect Disney’s copyright to Mickey Mouse’s original design, which debuted over a century ago in Steamboat Willie in 1928. Disney’s copyright for Mickey Mouse was protected for 56 years at the time it was released. The copyright was set to expire in 1984, but Disney successfully pushed the federal government to extend the protection for another 75 years with the Copyright Act of 1976. In 1998, Disney successfully fought for another copyright extension, and the federal government granted ownership for another 95 years.

Because of Disney’s now-overt political engagement, top GOP leaders believe they will not accept another extension when the next copyright deadline arrives in 2024. For other versions, the company would retain the copyright for other versions of Mickey, including the sorcerer design from Fantasia.