Just to clarify this point. Disney does not need to start a separate company to Trademark Mickey Mouse. In fact you better believe Disney is the registered ow

Just to clarify this point. Disney does not need to start a separate company to Trademark Mickey Mouse. In fact you better believe Disney is the registered owner multiple dozens, because the way Trademark works there are dozens of Trademark categories which need to be registered separately, of Mickey Mouse Trademarks. See: http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=4802:mx64t9.1.1 http://tmsearch.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=searchss&state=4802... (and search "Mickey Mouse", USPTO does not permit linking to result pages) Moreover, "Mickey Mouse" can be Trademarked in name and then the actual "logo" (drawing of a mouse) can be Trademarked.