Did you know? Mickey Mouse will FINALLY enter the public domain next month! This is something that has been delayed several times as the Disney corporation successfully rewrote US copyright law to give themselves more time. But the wait is finally over. You will legally be able to write a fanfiction where Mickey Mouse is gay in January.
There is! The version of Mickey that will be public domain is the earliest version from Steamboat Willie. If you want your gay Mickie to have attributes of later versions of Michael Mouse, like appearing in color, you open the door to some lawyer saying that you’re actually depicting a version that’s still under copyright protection. Which is a stupid technicality, but this is Disney we’re talking about. They probably have a whole dojo full of legal ninjas doing knuckle pushups right now training to file the briefs they need to send you to the Shadow Realm.
Also: public domain protects you from a legal fatality via COPYRIGHT law. It is powerless in the face of trademark law based jutsu. And just about everything about Mickey Mouse is also a registered trademark of Disney Corporation, including the words Mickey Mouse®
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