When the first Mickey Mouse short entered the public domain, many people assumed the character had become free for anyone to use. That is not what happened, and the reason behind it is one of the smartest pieces of legal strategy on record.
Copyright expires. Registered trademarks do not: as long as they are renewed and actually used, they can last indefinitely. Disney built its protection on both pillars at once.
Alongside copyright in the work itself, Disney registered the name «Mickey Mouse», the three-circle silhouette and the modern image of the character as trademarks. When copyright in the original short expired, the trademark registrations stayed intact.
The practical result: the 1928 short can be reproduced, but no one can sell goods using the character’s name or image as a commercial identifier. The protection did not disappear — it changed legal form.
The lesson for any business is that copyright and trademarks are not alternatives. They protect different things, for different terms, and a well-built strategy uses both. If your most valuable asset rests on copyright alone, it has an expiry date.