I know nothing on the subject, but would it be possibly for Disney (or any other creator for that matter) to start a Mickey Mouse company, with Mickey as the logo and mascot, that sells Mickey Mouse paraphernalia and protect the characters as a trademark?
> Twentieth Century Fox was the producer of a World War II video series that was no longer protected by copyright. When a competitor used it, Fox sued — not for copyright infringement (because they couldn’t), but for trademark infringment. They lost. See Dastar Corp. v. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corp. et al., 540 US 806 (2003), which you can read here: ( http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/support-files/dastar.pdf ).
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.
I got into a long discussion with a lawyer-colleague who insisted that Disney doesn't have "Mickey Mouse" trademarked, but only a handful of very specific renderings of him. His preferred solution was to give Disney a "right to publicity" for Mickey Mouse (as if Mickey Mouse were a real person) which would let their old stuff enter the public domain while still maintaining control of the character.
