Disney has spent a lot of money lobbying for the extension of copyrights. It is not possible to buy extensions on copyrights, but Disney did as close to it as possible. Before Disney, copyrights expired when the author died plus 50 years. In the late 90s, that term was coming up for Mickey, so Disney supported legislation (dubbed the Mickey Mouse Law) that changed it to 70 years. That extra 20 years has now expired, and there is no political will to extend it again.
Disney has spent a lot of money lobbying for the extension of copyrights. It is not possible to buy extensions on copyrights, but Disney did as close to it as possible. Before Disney, copyrights expired when the author died plus 50 years. In the late 90s, that term was coming up for Mickey, so Disney supported legislation (dubbed the Mickey Mouse Law) that changed it to 70 years. That extra 20 years has now expired, and there is no political will to extend it again.
I dunno about you, but personally, there’s a whole shitload of legislation I’ve dubbed " mickey mouse law"… ;)