Mickey Mouse is a red herring. There are tens of thousands of works that could be preserved and redistributed on the Internet right now, if only they were in the public domain. Characters that could be household names like Sherlock Holmes or Frankenstein are languishing in obscurity, because even finding who owns the copyright isn't feasible.
Copyright laws should definitely be reformed. Does Disney want to keep Mickey forever? Fine, just make them renew the copyright every ten years or so. Wouldn't this be a better solution for everybody?
I don't think Sherlock Holmes is languishing in obscurity - in the last couple of years there's been a new movie adaptation and a (far superior) TV series. The original books are old enough now that they would be public domain, even in the US?
Sorry for not being clear. I was citing Sherlock Holmes and Frankenstein as examples of famous characters that are in the public domain. (Holmes's situation is in fact a bit murky in the US)
