Mickey Mouse isn’t entering puclic domain. Specific Mickey Mouse cartoons are, starting with Steamboat Willy. Mickey himself isn’t copyrighted, he’s trademarked. Trademarks don’t expire as long as the owner keeps defending them.
JY: Trademarks have to be defended for the products for which they provide the mark. So, for example, Peter Pan Peanut butter does not have to defend itself against Disney, even though they both have a version of Peter Pan, because there is no risk of confusion that the peanut butter is a Disney product.
Mickey Mouse WILL be in the public domain, but Disney will, of course, enforce its trademark for every product that they have Mickey on, under the assumption that consumers of competeing branded products may mistake them for DISNEY products
Mickey Mouse isn’t entering puclic domain. Specific Mickey Mouse cartoons are, starting with Steamboat Willy. Mickey himself isn’t copyrighted, he’s trademarked. Trademarks don’t expire as long as the owner keeps defending them.
JY: Trademarks have to be defended for the products for which they provide the mark. So, for example, Peter Pan Peanut butter does not have to defend itself against Disney, even though they both have a version of Peter Pan, because there is no risk of confusion that the peanut butter is a Disney product.
Mickey Mouse WILL be in the public domain, but Disney will, of course, enforce its trademark for every product that they have Mickey on, under the assumption that consumers of competeing branded products may mistake them for DISNEY products
This is going to be interesting in the Chinese curse way…
I’d like to have coffee with the Prophet Mohammed . I drink the rocket fuel stuff though.