Mickey Mouse is about to become a public property so they are trying to use him
Explain this to me. How do you think this is going to happen?
That should say *not* use him
Okay, try it again: How do you think Disney is about to lose control of Mickey Mouse?
Trademark, service mark, or copyright? Hint: they won't.
The company has lobbied successfully to change copyright law extensively and the first movie which was due to enter public domain will not enter it until 2023 at this point, if then. Keen observers expect that legal hijinks will continue to extend copyright on EVERYTHING just to protect corporate interests.
Even so, that would only open up
Steamboat Willie and other films to being integrated into the public domain, available to reworking and interpretation, the same way
Sherlock and
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen have been. As far as I understand it, it doesn't allow people to use Mickey wherever they want, as he's a trademark, which doesn't fall into public domain at any point, unlike specific copyrighted works.
As for how they're "not using him," you might not be aware that he's recently been very closely remodeled on the
Steamboat Willie style, and has become a central character in Disney's video game efforts, as well as several new series of short films, featuring the same style.
In summary: you're super-wrong, dude.
