I was driving through southern Illinois and made a stop at Grady’s Family Fun Park. It has a bit of a feel of a permanent carnival attached to a batting cages and a mini golf course, but it is full of charm. One thing that struck me were the statues of Winnin-the-Pooh and Tigger at the exit. My first thought was that Disney was probably going to sue them, but a little research taught me otherwise as the original Winnie-the-Pooh copyright has indeed expired!

Copyright law protects original creative works (books, music, art, etc.) by granting the creator the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute and publicly display/perform their work. Copyright protection begins the moment a work is created and lasts for the author’s lifetime plus 70 years or 95 years from the date of publication. In the case of Winnie-the-Pooh this meant that with the book Winnie-the-Pooh being published on 14 October 1926, the book entered the public domain in the United States on 1 January 2022.

The end of copyright doesn’t mean it’s 100% open season on all things Winnie-the-Pooh as it would only be the characters portrayed in that book and only in there original iterations without any updates which would trigger new copyrights. Think of how Mickey Mouse has modernized from “Steamboat Willie” to the modern look today. With Winnie-the-Pooh it didn’t take long for public domain uses to begin including a 2023 horror movie called, “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey“! Be warned on this one as it’s not for kids and hence just posting it as a link instead of an embed.

Winnie-the-Pooh still is a major part of the Magic Kingdom and Disney in general. There’s The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh dark ride in the Fantasyland section of Magic Kingdom. For the ride guests board oversized “Hunny Pots” to go through different scenes from the Winnie-the-Pooh universe with Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore. There’s also a meet and greet area and even a character dining experience. That’s not to mention all the merchandise such a as clothing and toys.

Winnie-the-Pooh is big business for Disney, so I’d expect it to patrol its more modern versions of him very aggressively. I grew up near Appleton, Wisconsin and I remember 30 years ago when Grumpy’s Bar was sent a letter from Disney about copyright infringement for a cartoon depiction of “Grumpy” on its sign. The original Snow White fairy tale by Brothers Grimm is in the public domain. However, the specific versions of the characters created by Disney for their 1937 film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, will not enter the public domain until 2032. I’d expect Disney to handle cases of potential Winnie-the-Pooh infringement similarly. The article below is also posted under another copyright quirk called “fair use” that permits the use of copyrighted material without permission. However “fair use” is limited and for purposes like comment, news reporting or teaching where you’re not using someone else’s work for direct profit. To complete the story, Grumpy’s did alter the sign and is still in operation today!

So Winnie-the-Pooh is off of copyright, but other theme parks should proceed cautiously. They could freely use the original story, but could not use any Disney’s specific character designs or the plot elements. The Disney versions would be the most recognizable versions to guests anyway and probably defeat the purpose of doing it. However, perhaps a little parody action could be in the work similar to how Universal used Shrek took shots at public domain Disney fairy tale concepts? I guess this is a good reminder that nothing is forever and someday 100 years from now there may be public domain uses of things like Star Wars or Harry Potter for us to look forward to!