[grey-area]

The reason why it was "life plus X years" was to provide a means for the family if the creator had an untimely death.

While that was the ostensible reason, corporations who have had rights assigned to them want to milk those rights after the author's death, indeed often the creator's death is a catalyst for higher sales, which will usually go mostly to the publisher/media conglomerate, not their family.

[noxToken]

I always wonder how low the IP for Mickey will sink when that copyright expires. Disney can usually produce good enough content with Mickey including some games (Kingdom Hearts series) and animation for kids. It might not hit the mark for everyone, but I think Disney prides itself on never producing shovelware - even if the content is bland.

Imagine the App/Play Store (or whatever exists then) once it expires though. If you thought the Flappy Bird spam was bad...

[berbec]

IANAL - but Mickey Mouse will continue to be protected as a trademark of the Disney company even after Steamboat Willie expires.