[bryanrasmussen]

that would first of all take a lot of work to make it absolutely clear, a lot of work to use the mouse, and finally a lot of work to fight the lawsuits until it was established that you didn't violate and could do what you were doing.

In short nobody but a crazy person or someone with a real deep artistic need that absolutely required that version of Mickey to work would ever pursue it.

[resolutebat]

It took one year from Winnie the Pooh entering the public domain to this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh:_Blood_and_Hon...

And AFAIK they were not sued, despite being ever so slightly off brand for Disney.

[bryanrasmussen]

OK, yeah I remember seeing that - not seeing the film but seeing it existed. On the other hand that is understood as a property that originally was not Disney.

I think as well Disney protection of its characters might be a more ingrained than just normal copyright protectionism - Walt was notoriously a bastard to anyone who messed around with not treating Mickey with the respect he deserved.

[bazoom42]

Plenty of Disney characters like Snow White or Cinderella have been public domain all the time without it hurting Disney.

[dkjaudyeqooe]

I'm working on a "Pedophile Willy" adaptation of Steamboat Willy, complete with raw (stick figure) sex scenes and Willy promoting the "pedophile lifestyle".

Lets see how that goes.

[bazoom42]

Nobody will care about your stick figures.

1960s underground comix did all that 50 years ago when it was still edgy.