Popeye Is Now Public Domain – At Least In Europe The Daily Cartoonist

Skip to content →2009→01→07→Comic strips→Legal→Licensing→Popeye is now public domain – at least in Europe Comic strips Legal Licensing Popeye is now public domain – at least in Europe Skip to comments Alan Gardner Published: January 7, 2009 Updated: January 7, 2009 1 minute 0 comments

At the first of this year, the Popeye character entered into the public domain in Europe. In the US, the copyright is still in play until 2024 because US law protects works for 95 years after the death of the creator instead of the 70 years that Europe observes. That said, King Features still owns the marketing rights to the image, which might be cause some legal conundrums for those wishing to use Elzie Segar famous creation.

The question of whether any enterprising food company can now attach Popeye’s famous face to their spinach cans will have to be tested in court.

While the copyright is about to expire inside the EU, the character is protected in the US until 2024. US law protects a work for 95 years after its initial copyright.

The Popeye trademark, a separate entity to Segar’s authorial copyright, is owned by King Features, a subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation – the US entertainment giant – which is expected to protect its brand aggressively.

Mark Owen, an intellectual property specialist at the law firm Harbottle & Lewis, said: “The Segar drawings are out of copyright, so anyone could put those on T-shirts, posters and cards and create a thriving business. If you sold a Popeye toy or Popeye spinach can, you could be infringing the trademark.”

Previous Post Mike Peters sued for $20M over coffee cartoon Next Post Comic page changes

Comments

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts

• Peanuts to be Majority Owned by Sonyby D. D. DeggDecember 19, 2025
• CSotD: Carrying on as if we didby Mike PetersonDecember 19, 2025
• Randy Jones – RIPby D. D. DeggDecember 18, 2025
• Politico’s Final Print Editionby D. D. DeggDecember 18, 2025
• CSotD: Conversions and Comfortingsby Mike PetersonDecember 18, 2025
• Walter Mahoney – RIPby D. D. DeggDecember 17, 2025
• Cartoonists and Their Comicsby D. D. DeggDecember 17, 2025

Search

Subscribe to our newsletter

Get a daily recap of the news posted each day.

^ Top