Peter Pan Growing Up Stirs Legal Gray Area; Mickey Up Soon (1)

Peter Pan has grown up, but the adult version portrayed by Robin Williams hasn’t. And Walt Disney Co.’s versions of Peter may never fully grow up.

The copyright for the 1924 silent film Peter Pan expired Jan. 1, putting it in the second batch of works to enter the public domain after a two-decade moratorium imposed by Congress. That means anyone can copy the film’s images, characters, dialogue and story lines, even if they appear in more recent works still protected by copyright.

Owners of valuable franchises going public will look to other intellectual property laws to at least partially ...