![Mickey Mouse, Tigger and more: Notable works entering the public domain in 2024](https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/12/30/848f5d92-d05b-4316-82ec-e428d4464d11/thumbnail/1200x630/57166f51018d158d011164715f1c98c1/gettyimages-1137227018.jpg?v=5382e209c94ee904b3a96a69f8ca0ce0)
Mickey Mouse, Tigger and more: Notable works entering the public domain in 2024
CBSN
The earliest versions of Mickey and Minnie Mouse now belong to the American people. The characters as they appear in the animated short films "Steamboat Willie" and "Plane Crazy" entered the U.S. public domain Monday, along with thousands of other works from 1928.
Legal experts at Duke University say the Walt Disney Company still retains the copyrights to later iterations of the iconic mice for the time being, as well as the trademarks, but people "are free to copy, share and build on" the 1928 depictions of the pair.
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Oregon's Durkee Fire – the largest active blaze in the U.S. – has burned more than 268,500 acres of land. And while that amount of lost land poses an aggressive and dangerous threat, there's another threat wildfires like Durkee can present that many aren't aware of: they can create their own weather systems.