What If Overprotecting Your IP Is the Problem?

Last week, Disney made a $1 billion bet that changes how we should think about intellectual property.

They didn't just partner with OpenAI. They handed over Mickey Mouse, Darth Vader, and 200+ of their most protected characters to be used in AI-generated videos on Sora. Starting early 2026, fans can create short clips with these characters. Disney even agreed to host curated selections on Disney+.

You might be thinking, another tech deal, so what.

But this one feels different. And it is different.

Here's why: For decades, we've treated IP like it lives in a fortress guarded by lawyers. Locked down. Protected. Untouchable. The magic only happens when we control exactly how, when, and where people experience our stories.

Disney's deal with OpenAI flips that script entirely.

They're acknowledging what we've all known but been too afraid to say out loud. People will engage with your IP anyway. The question isn't whether they will, it's whether you're part of that conversation or watching from the sidelines while someone else serves it up without your permission.

The cage is opening. Not because Disney suddenly got reckless with their crown jewels, but because they realized the cage itself was limiting.

Think about what this means. Disney, the company that famously sues anyone who uses their characters without permission, just gave millions of people permission to create with those characters. In AI. With tools that didn't exist two years ago.

Obviously, Disney will want OpenAI to put some guardrails out. This isn't a free-for-all. The deal includes specific protections, age-appropriate policies, controls against harmful content. Disney negotiated terms that let creativity flourish while maintaining brand integrity. That balance is crucial.

This isn't just about fan content or UGC. This is about recognizing that stories don't live in black boxes anymore. They can't. Your audience doesn't want to passively watch your carefully controlled message. They want to participate. They want to explore. They want agency in how they connect with the worlds and characters they love.

And here's what makes this a watershed moment: Disney will learn more from what fans create in the first six months than they could from ten years of focus groups. They'll see which stories resonate, which characters spark creativity, which mashups nobody expected but everyone wants.

The IP isn't getting diluted. It's getting amplified.

And creating some fun videos in Sora? That's just the beginning. This is the first step in a much bigger shift.

The IP Conversation Just Got Real

Disney's move opens up a conversation every company with valuable IP has been avoiding. Many will follow suit. They have to.

Because here's the uncomfortable truth: your IP is already floating somewhere in a vector database. The AI companies trained their models on publicly available content, which probably includes yours. You can spend years complaining about it, filing lawsuits, writing cease and desist letters. Or you can do what Disney just did.

Work with them. In a controlled way. On your terms.

Disney didn't surrender control. They negotiated it. Three years. Specific characters. No voices or likenesses. Revenue sharing. They shaped how their IP gets used instead of fighting a losing battle to keep it out entirely.

That's the strategic play. Not whether AI companies use your IP, but how. Not if people create with your stories, but under what terms.

This Is Already Happening in Immersive Experiences

We've been living this reality for years in location-based experiences.

When we built Zoo of the Future, we didn't just create technology. We created layered experiences where visitors could engage with animals at different depths. Physical space that primed emotion. AR that sparked curiosity. VR that delivered transformation.

But here's what made it work: the IP itself, the animal stories, the conservation narrative, needed to be accessible across all three layers. Not locked behind one format. Not restricted to one medium.

The same principle applies whether you're working with Disney characters, wildlife conservation stories, or branded experiences. IP that lives in just one format, in just one controlled environment, limits your ability to meet people where they are and let them engage how they want.

Think about Stranger Things immersive experiences versus generic projection shows. The IP draws the attention. If you then build a participatory experience around that IP, one where visitors can explore at their own pace, make their own discoveries, find their own meaning, the impact is exponentially greater than just showing them beautiful images on a wall.

The difference between an experience that gets forgotten in a week and one that generates +20,000 visitors and 200+ press articles isn't the technology. It's whether you're using IP to create participation or just spectation.

Disney's move with OpenAI mirrors what works in physical immersive experiences. Give people agency with your IP. Let them explore it. Let them interact with it on their terms. Build layers that respect how different people want to engage.

The technology might be different, AI versus AR versus VR, but the principle is identical. The value isn't in the vault. It's in the participation.

What This Means for You (Yes, Actually You)

Let me make this concrete with an example that hits closer to home.

Say you're an automotive manufacturer. You've spent years designing a new electric SUV. Your design team obsessed over every curve, every interface detail, every material choice. Your engineering team developed proprietary battery technology and autonomous features. Your marketing team guards those CAD files, those technical specs, those 3D assets like they're nuclear codes.

Here's what's happening right now under the old model: Your sales team shows the same configurator to every prospect on your website. Customers can pick colors and trim levels, but they can't truly visualize how the vehicle fits their life until they visit a dealership. They can't see it in their driveway. They can't understand how the trunk space works with their specific gear. By the time they show up for a test drive, they've already researched three competitors, watched countless YouTube reviews, and formed opinions based on partial information you didn't control.

Meanwhile, your competitors' vehicles are being compared in online forums. Influencers are making verdict videos. The conversation about your product is happening everywhere except where you can shape it.

Now imagine the Disney approach applied here: You create an AR experience where prospects can place your exact vehicle in their actual driveway. They can walk around it, open the doors, see the interior from their driver's seat position. They can load their bikes, their luggage, their kids' car seats and verify it all fits. Not in a showroom. In their real life, with their real stuff, making a real decision.

You let them share those AR sessions with their spouse, their friends. Different people explore different layers: one focuses on safety, one checks tech, one tests cargo and routines. Some share screenshots. Some compare configurations. Some reveal use cases you never thought to market.

And that's exactly what you want. Because now you're learning which features matter most in real-world contexts. Which configurations prospects gravitate toward. Which objections come up before they even contact a dealer.

That's not giving away your IP. That's making your IP work harder than any brochure or showroom ever could.

This is what Disney just figured out. The value isn't in the vault. It's in the participation.

Where This Gets Even More Complex: The Authoritative Truth Problem

Here's the next layer.

As interfaces become more ambient, including AR glasses, customers won't want to open your website or download your app or search for specs. They'll look at the world and expect information to appear.

They'll point at a car and want instant details. They'll look at their living room wall and want to see how a TV fits. They'll stand in their driveway and compare models at real scale.

In that world, correctness matters. A lot.

If your product appears with the wrong dimensions, wrong colors, or outdated specs, you don't just have a brand problem. You have a trust problem. Potentially a legal one.

Which means the assets you've been locking down, the 3D models, the specs, the product data, increasingly become the truth layer the ecosystem needs.

The question isn't whether those systems will try to approximate you. They will. They already are.

The question is whether you provide the authoritative version, with governance, accuracy, and commercial terms you control.

Disney is showing a path. Negotiate access on your terms. Maintain quality control. Participate, rather than fight a battle that leaves you out of the relationship entirely.

Because when someone generates a Mickey Mouse video in Sora, it's using Disney's authoritative character models. When AR glasses show your product in someone's living room, will they be using yours? Or will they be using an approximation scraped from the internet, with all the accuracy problems that come with it?

That's the choice you're facing right now. Not whether to participate, but how.

The Real Question

The companies that will win in the next five years aren't the ones protecting their IP the hardest. They're the ones figuring out how to let people participate with it. Because participation creates evangelists. Spectation creates passive audiences who forget you the moment they walk away.

Disney's move shows us something crucial. The most valuable IP isn't the one you protect the most fiercely. It's the one people want to engage with so badly that they'll create with it, share it, remix it, and bring others into it.

The technology exists. The appetite is there. The question facing every CMO and marketing leader right now is whether you're designing experiences people participate in, or content they passively consume.

Because that gap, the one between watching and doing, between spectation and participation, determines whether you get five minutes of attention or an ongoing relationship.

The vault is opening. Are you building something worth participating in?