Sen. Josh Hawley targets Disney’s Mickey Mouse copyright in new bill

Yahoo Finance’s Alexandra Canal joins the Live show to discuss proposed legislation by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) that is targeting Disney’s copyright for animated characters like Mickey Mouse.

Video transcript

- Fresh off its battle with Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Disney is now fighting another Republican lawmaker, this time over the copyright protections of Mickey Mouse, the one and only. Yahoo Finance's Ali Canal joins us now with the details. Ali, what's the background on this? And what's the significance? How likely is this to really happen?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Good morning, Julie. So the significance of this really lies in the symbolism of this latest Republican-led attack after Disney vowed to help repeal the Controversial Parental Rights in Education Act, what critics have dubbed the Don't Say Gay Bill. There's been a larger effort on the part of the GOP to target, quote, unquote, "woke companies." So we had Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri propose this legislation limiting copyright protections to 56 years.

The bill would also retroactively apply to firms with a market cap of over $150 billion that operate in the motion picture industry, a.k.a. this is really targeting Disney, its slew of animated characters, most notably Mickey Mouse. And a little bit of background here. Since 1928, the original Mickey Mouse which appeared in the animated short film "Steamboat Willie" has been protected under copyright law. Disney has twice lobbied Congress for extensions, which has allowed it 94 years of exclusive rights to media and merchandise.

But in 2024, the copyright protection for that particular image of Mickey Mouse which you're seeing on your screen right now, that is set to expire. It will then be released into the public domain. So Hawley's goal here is really to ensure that Disney is not able to receive another copyright extension. It would also strip Disney of those protections as soon as this year. Disney has not publicly commented on the matter. I reached out to the office of Senator Hawley. I did not hear back. But this seems to be more about creating noise, creating media attention, than it does about actual legislation.

- And so, Ali, what's the likelihood that this bill actually passes?

ALEXANDRA CANAL: The short answer here is no. I spoke to several lawyers, constitutional lawyers, copyright lawyers. And they told me that there is just no way that this bill will pass. And there's a few reasons why. Number one, his proposed 56 years of copyright protections goes back to pre-1988 law. Since then, there has been several updates, several amendments, to help keep the US in step with Europe and the rest of the world when it came to copyright protections.

As it stands today, protections are life of the author plus 70 years. And corporate copyright protections, which is what Disney operates under, that stands at 95 years. So this will put the US at a severe disadvantage. It would also hurt real-life artists, smaller companies.

In addition, the fact that Hawley introduced this retroactive clause targeting that very specific group of companies with over $150 billion market cap, that is considered unconstitutional. It violates something known as a bill of attainder, which is legislation that makes it unlawful to directly target a small group of people or companies. So these are just a few of the reasons and the issues that are at play here. So, overall, Hawley is just doing this for publicity. And that's really the crux of it. But once again, it symbolizes Disney getting caught in the crossfire of politicians, most specifically Republicans.

- All right. Excellent breakdown as always. Our own Ali Canal, Yahoo Finance entertainment reporter. Appreciate it.