On January 1st, an NFT collection that was offered for free minting on the Ethereum network caught the attention of the NFT community. An old version of Walt Disney Company’s mascot Mickey Mouse managed to become the number one trending NFT on the popular NFT marketplace OpenSea for the first time. The collection’s floor price, initially valued at $968, rose to as much as 0.40 ETH, and interest was significant in the first 24 hours.
Mickey Mouse NFT Makes a Splash
A version of Mickey from the 1928 short film Steamboat Willie became public after reaching the copyright limit. Steamboat Willie was the first public appearance of Mickey Mouse, and nearly a century later, Disney’s claim over this version of the character ended because United States laws only protect copyright for 95 years.
Following the expiration of the copyright, three NFT collections related to the old mascot managed to occupy the top three spots on OpenSea’s 24-hour trend list. The NFT collection titled Steamboat Willie Public Domain 2024 settled at number one after achieving a trading volume of approximately $1.2 million. Another collection named Steamboat Willie took the second spot on the list, while Steamboat Willie’s Riverboat was third.
Disney Responds Promptly
In addition to OpenSea’s trend list, the Steamboat Willie Public Domain 2024 collection also joined popular collections like Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Pudgy Penguins on OpenSea’s 24-hour top lists, ranking at number six. The Steamboat Willie collection also appeared in the same list at the eighth position.
As the copyright of this version of the popular mascot expired, Disney reminded the public that the modern versions of Mickey would not be affected by the expiration of Steamboat Willie’s term. A Disney spokesperson told CNN that the company will continue to protect its rights over the modern versions of Mickey Mouse and other copyrighted works:
“We will work to protect against consumer confusion arising from unauthorized use of Mickey and our other iconic characters.”
