This is the best summary I could come up with:
With several asterisks, qualification and caveats, Mickey Mouse in his earliest form will be the leader of the band of characters, films and books that will become public domain as the year turns to 2024.
In a moment many close observers thought might never come, at least one version of the quintessential piece of intellectual property and perhaps the most iconic character in American pop culture will be free from Disney’s copyright as his first screen release, the 1928 short “Steamboat Willie,” featuring both Mickey and Minnie Mouse, becomes available for public use.
Not every feature or personality trait a character displays is necessarily copyrightable, however, and courts could be busy in the coming years determining what’s inside and outside Disney’s ownership.
Disney still solidly and separately holds a trademark on Mickey as a corporate mascot and brand identifier, and the law forbids using the character deceptively to fool consumers into thinking a product is from the original creator.
Other properties entering the U.S. public domain are Charlie Chaplin’s film “Circus,” Virginia Woolf’s novel “Orlando” and Bertolt Brecht’s musical play “The Threepenny Opera.”
“It would be literally costless for Congress to pass a law saying, ‘we now adopt the rule of the shorter term,’ which would throw a butt ton of works into the public domain over here.”
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