Starting today, the comic characters Popeye and Tintin officially entered the public domain. This is because according to US intellectual property law, any media that is 95 years old after publication automatically enters the cloud domain.
The copyright of the comic character Tintin entered the public domain except in the European Union (EU) because there copyright applies until 70 years after the death of the creator. Tintin's creator died in 1983 and this means that it will enter the public domain in the EU in 1954.
Popeye was created by E.C. Segar and first appeared in the Thimble Theatre comic in 1929. Only the appearance of the character Popeye entered the public domain. The super strength feature after eating spinach only entered the public domain in 2027 because the first comic featuring this ability was published in 1931.
In addition to Popeye and Tintin, 12 other early Mickey Mouse cartoons entered the public domain including The Carnival Kid which featured the first time he spoke. In January last year, the Steamboat Willie cartoon featuring Mickey Mouse entered the public domain, giving anyone permission to use the character that was previously only available to Disney.