> So long as Disney keeps making use of Mickey Mouse, what economic reason is there to give someone else a crack at the character? You seem to be confusing tra

> So long as Disney keeps making use of Mickey Mouse, what economic reason is there to give someone else a crack at the character? You seem to be confusing trademarks and copyright. Disney characters are in fact protected in perpetuity as long as Disney continues to use them commercially. The copyright question is the question of whether Disney can keep control over specific works like Steamboat Willie, or whether they will start to enter the public domain. > the economic framework that's well-accepted in policy circles has no way to express the value of letting copyright expire Nonsense. The definition of copyright is a legal monopoly on the production of copies of a work. It has long been understood by economists that monopolies legal or not, incentives rent-seeking and disrupt a markets natural trend towards natural prices.