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No, Mickey Mouse is a trademark. No danger of entering the public domain if Disney maintain registration. Film that he's appeared in, however, is under copyrig
by delinka 9y ago
No, Mickey Mouse is a trademark. No danger of entering the public domain if Disney maintain registration.
Film that he's appeared in, however, is under copyright and yes, his earliest films could indeed fall into the public domain.
- kolpa 9y agoTrademarks are not protected from being used in works of art, only from use in branding.
- delinka 9y agoWhich is still not the "public domain."
- TheCoelacanth 9y agoNo, but trademark protections are very limited compared to copyright protections. For instance, if you wanted to make a movie like League of Extraordinary Gentlemen but with cartoon characters, once Mickey Mouse's copyright has expired you would be free to use his character in the movie, you would just have to avoid using him in advertisements for the movie in a way that would mislead people into thinking the movie was affiliated with Disney.