I unfortunately know very little about trademark infringement, but after studying up a little on copyright laws when someone was encroaching upon some of my rights, i discovered the following:
First off, copyright protection only applies to the image or work ITSELF, and not derivatives. If I were to draw a picture of strawberry shortcake myself, it would not be copyright infringement, but trademark infringement. Since Mike didn't use a copyrighted work in the actual comic, no violation of copyright occurred.
As for public domain, a work enters the public domain 70 years after the death of its creator, or after 120 years, whichever comes first. I believe it is slightly longer for works owned by companies (Disney, for instance), but it does expire eventually. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney's comes up pretty soon here, to be honest.
Also, regarding the parody... this parody could be taken two ways. He appeared to be using Strawberry Shortcake as a way to poke fun at American McGee, but it could just as easily be interpreted as him using American McGee's trademark as a way to poke fun at Strawberry Shortcake. Now, from what I gather, that should be covered under parody, and since this is not a for-sale item, it has no effect on the marketplace whatsoever.
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I unfortunately know very little about trademark infringement, but after studying up a little on copyright laws when someone was encroaching upon some of my rights, i discovered the following:
First off, copyright protection only applies to the image or work ITSELF, and not derivatives. If I were to draw a picture of strawberry shortcake myself, it would not be copyright infringement, but trademark infringement. Since Mike didn't use a copyrighted work in the actual comic, no violation of copyright occurred.
As for public domain, a work enters the public domain 70 years after the death of its creator, or after 120 years, whichever comes first. I believe it is slightly longer for works owned by companies (Disney, for instance), but it does expire eventually. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney's comes up pretty soon here, to be honest.
Also, regarding the parody... this parody could be taken two ways. He appeared to be using Strawberry Shortcake as a way to poke fun at American McGee, but it could just as easily be interpreted as him using American McGee's trademark as a way to poke fun at Strawberry Shortcake. Now, from what I gather, that should be covered under parody, and since this is not a for-sale item, it has no effect on the marketplace whatsoever.