Adding 20 More Years of Protection
The Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA), passed in the United States in 1998, significantly altered the duration of copyright protection for creative works, including film. The act retroactively extended the copyright term for all existing and future works by an additional 20 years. This change meant that works that were about to enter the public domain—becoming free for all to use, adapt, and republish—were instead kept under private ownership for another two decades.
Prior to the act, copyright for a work of corporate authorship, which covers the vast majority of studio films, lasted for 75 years from the date of publication. The CTEA extended this term to 95 years. For works by an individual creator, the term was extended from the life of the author plus 50 years to life of the author plus 70 years.
The ‘Mickey Mouse Protection Act’
The legislation is widely and derisively known as the ‘Mickey Mouse Protection Act.’ This nickname arose because The Walt Disney Company was one of the primary and most powerful lobbyists for the extension. A key motivation for the company was to prevent its most iconic character, Mickey Mouse, from entering the public domain. His first appearance in the 1928 animated short Steamboat Willie was set to lose its copyright protection in 2003. The passage of the CTEA pushed that date back to 2024.
Critics of the act argue that it overwhelmingly benefits large corporations and the estates of long-dead artists at the expense of the public domain, which is the wellspring of future creativity. By locking away a massive trove of 20th-century art, literature, and film, the act made it more difficult for new artists to build upon their cultural heritage. It also created immense problems for film archivists and historians, complicating the preservation and distribution of ‘orphan works’—older films whose copyright holders are unknown or impossible to find.