On 15 Apr 2007 11:27:52 -0700, wrote:

Sonny Bono sponsored some sort of Micky Mouse law extending
copyright protections for cartoon characters. But I think that
extension has or soon will run out.

IMHO, a cartoon character ought to be protected under trademark
like a caricature used as a logo.

It can, but the movies & cartoons themselves were different. The copyrights on
the earliest Disney cartoons had been slated to expire, and the company didn't
want repackagers to re-issue them (without paying their pound of flesh to
Disney, of course).

Ron Wanttaja