Public domain characters offer endless creative freedom for storytellers, filmmakers, and artists. Prominent public domain ...

It's the day the nonagenarian cartoon characters officially enter the ... The main thing they have in common is their age — under U.S. copyright law, their terms all expire after 95 years.

Disney has fought to keep its copyright of the famous cartoon character as long as possible, lobbying the U.S. government to extend copyright protection before it was originally set to expire in 1984.

Despite Disney trying to protect its characters, according to US copyright law ... AFP via Getty Images In the original cartoon short, Mickey Mouse gets into mischievous antics, such as fighting ...