DirecTV Enlists A New Ally In Its War With Disney: Public-Domain Mickey Mouse

Now that the 1928 version of Mickey Mouse has entered the public domain, the character can be used for any purpose, even to criticize The Walt Disney Company.

That’s exactly what Directv has started doing in a series of new digital ads that attack Disney. The ongoing carriage dispute between the two companies has led to Disney channels such as ABC, Disney Channel, and ESPN being made inaccessible to Directv’s 11 million satellite tv customers.

While the fight between the two companies is important – read more about it HERE – and could have widespread ramifications for the pay-tv industry, we’re frankly most intrigued by Directv’s use of Mickey Mouse to antagonize Disney. It is a feisty bit of corporate waggishness that would not have been legal before January 1st of this year.

The company has also launched a website that makes prominent use of the Disney corporate icon. Directv is using Mickey to argue that Disney is “stuck in the past” and “driving up fees” for consumers. One of the images shows Mickey Mouse standing on a pile of money.

We are entering a new era where a bonanza of classic cartoon and comic strip characters are set to enter the public domain. Over the next two years alone, versions of characters like Popeye, Betty Boop, Flip the Frog, Pluto, Bosko, Count Screwloose, Blondie, Toby the Pup, Bimbo, and Horace Horsecollar will become freely usable by the public – as well as corporations that have a score to settle with the owners of these characters. It’s going to be fascinating to watch how these characters will be used by parties other than their traditional corporate owners.