So today on the podcast, we start our monthly set of news stories.

We have a chunky episode today, but we still have another stack of stories for next week.

In our stories for today, we look at a bizarro commercial, featuring Mickey Mouse that a personal injury law firm would like to air on TV, that is, if Disney or maybe the courts

let them.

Then, probably the biggest Disney-related news story of the year so far, in which, amazingly,

Disney first lost the pile of streaming subscriptions as right-leaning customers cancelled and then two days later, over

the same issues, lost even more as left-leaning subscribers also canceled. It's also a story

that I'm pretty sure might have tipped the scales to define who will be the next Disney CEO in 2026. And lastly, a brief

feel-good story about important work that Disney kitchens are doing with nonprofits in Florida.

So, if you've got all that, let's cue up some music and get started.

Music Not all that, let's cue up some music and get started.

Let's start with this, an unusual story about how one company wants to use the 1928 version of Mickey Mouse in television advertisements to promote their own services.

As you probably recall, the 1928 version of Mickey Mouse entered the public domain back on January 1,

2024. In my social feeds, I've seen endless advertisements for t-shirts and caps and sweatshirts

that feature the 1928 image of Mickey Mouse, more or less as he appeared in Steamboat

Willie.

And as a result of the public domain designation of Mickey Mouse in that 1928 version, there

was also a 2024 supernatural slasher film called

The Mouse Trap, which focused on an individual who after seeing a Mickey Mouse mask

that talks to him puts it on and then begins to kill young adults trapped in an arcade.

The legal issues behind all of these things are somewhat complex. In terms of copyright, the 1928 version of Mickey Mouse

is in public domain. But to start off, this needs to be the dark-eyed Mickey as he appeared in Steamboat Willie,

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