LogFAQs > #953311037

Walt himself more or less quietly retired Mickey Mouse in his declining years. He stopped voicing the character after Mickey and the Beanstalk and positioned Tinkerbell as the de-facto mascot of the company. Mickey rebounded after Walt's passing.

Today, I think there's another reason for why Disney is slowly letting go of Mickey Mouse: he's approaching 100 years old. There are only so many loopholes one can find to avoid a character falling into the public domain. And while Disney could always re-trademark a version of that character, as they've done with several public domain characters, they won't be able to stop others from using traditional Mickey in stories of their own.

By the time other companies are able to legally utilize Mickey Mouse as a character, Disney will have relegated him to such a minor role that nothing they do with him could hurt the Disney image.