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Steamboat Rule
(i.imgur.com)
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this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
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Disney is not going to lobby to stop this because they can use trademark law to protect the mouse.
Which means you can include Mickey Mouse in your work, but you can't use him for marketing or merchandising.
You can if you use the steamboat willie version of him
"Includes someone who rhymes with Dickie Louse and drives a fucking boat".
Trademark only works if the infringement is in direct competition with you. They need to be in the same trade as the person/company that owns the particular mark of the trade.
A plumbing company could use Mickey as a mascot, (and even claim Mickey as their own trademark for plumbing, preventing Disney from using it for plumbing-related marketing in the future,) because Disney isn’t a plumbing company so they can’t claim a plumber is infringing on their trademark. Since the plumber is in an entirely separate trade and isn’t competing with Disney, Disney can’t claim trademark infringement.
Meanwhile Disney's creates micro companies on all sectors to be able to claim the trademark on each one.
Which works fine until you get served a cease-and-desist by Disney's lawyers, and you can't afford to fight it. Disney probably won't win if they go to trial, but it's not going to trial.
And they've already transitioned to using the Steamboat Willie model for the opening of their new movies as part of their trademark. As soon as I saw that happening I knew it wouldn't matter that the copyrights to it would finally go away because Disney found a new way around it with the trademarking.