But not yet. Right now, if you own a daycare, you can't call it the Mickey Mouse Day Care, and you can't put a picture of Pluto or Goofy on the sign. Mickey and his friends were copyrighted by Walt Disney way back when, and the copyright stays in force for fifty years. The law says your copyright is going to expire. You make a lot of money off this copyright.
Ideas belong to everyone.
Copyright, you see, is not about protecting your rights as an owner. It is merely designed to encourage innovation and creativity by giving a temporary period of protection. Your Mickey Mouse did not come from nowhere. Mr. Disney benefited from all the artists and innovators and creative persons who all contributed techniques and language and styles to our culture before him. Of course we can.