When Popeye’s UK copyright expired in January 2009, it became one of the first of the famous twentieth-century cartoon characters to fall out of copyright protection. The colourful character, his love interest Olive and his nemesis Bluto were created by Illinois artist Elzie Segar nearly a decade before he died in 1938.

Since then, the spinach-eating hero has become a pop culture icon, giving birth to an entire industry based on his image, which stretches from Popeye food to Popeye computer games, and generates an estimated £1.5bn in licensing each year. But the question of whether any company will now be able to use Popeye’s image is still to be tested.

UK (and EU) copyright law provides that protection for Segar’s original Popeye drawings expires 70 years after the death of their author, which means that the original drawings of Popeye, and to some extent the character himself, has now entered into the public domain in these jurisdictions. That would seem to suggest that anyone may now conceivably use his image without obtaining a licence or paying a royalty.

New rights come into play

However, even though the original copyright has expired, any business which plans to use an image of a recognisable character should always be aware that copyright has a very long reach – in this case, even beyond the grave. For while Segar’s original drawings are now available for use, whether anyone may want to use them is another matter altogether. Like many characters, including Mickey Mouse and Superman, the most iconic versions of the character only became popular after their design had changed following revisions by other artists, which in some cases took place some years after they first appeared.

Any image of Popeye which have been created by other artists after the original drawings will still be protected by copyright until 70 years after the death of whoever drew them.

Not only that, but Popeye’s image is also a registered trademark, owned by King Features, a subsidiary of the US conglomerate Hearst Corporation. This is a classic example of how there may be more than one right which can protect the image of a popular cartoon character, and I’m sure Disney will be looking on with great interest when Mickey Mouse’s copyright elapses in 2023.

Steve Kuncewicz is a media and IP lawyer at Ralli Solicitors

This article first appeared in IP Review, issue 25

Picture: source