Doesn't "Steamboat Willie" predate even the 'Mickey Mouse' name, anyway? I think it would be quite feasible to make a derivative work of SW that still had so ma

Doesn't "Steamboat Willie" predate even the 'Mickey Mouse' name, anyway? I think it would be quite feasible to make a derivative work of SW that still had so many deliberate changes compared to what people associate with the present-day Mickey Mouse trademark, that no one, not even a young child, would be expected to conflate the work with Disney's products. This is one thing that would not be possible if SW failed to enter the public domain. Of course, things would become more interesting-- and perhaps more challenging-- as later stuff started entering the public domain as well; just as with "Sherlock Holmes", many features of Mickey's character were slowly accreted over time.