Licensed Characters

[Former_Member]

I know that we're not supposed to create licensed character products to sell, and I know it's not heavily policed, but I'm wondering if there are legal loopholes? Like for instance, I'm quite sure that if I bought some licensed character fabric from a craft store and made something out of it to sell, that would be okay. But if I painted Dobby from Harry Potter onto a wood plaque, that might not be okay. I see similar things done on other etsy pages, and they have a disclaimer that the purchase price of the product is for time and materials only, and not marked up for the popularity of the character, etc. Or it will say things like Star Wars INSPIRED products, but clearly be a BB8. I'm curious from the seasoned and ethical etsy-ers, what is acceptable? For example, I have some earrings I made that are Yoshi Eggs, or Om Nom from Cut The Rope, or Angry Birds. They are printed images of the characters made into earrings. Acceptable with a disclaimer? Or with "inspired" in the title, or not really at all?

[MariasWorkshop]

Katie,

I have never had to deal with this subject, but got curious and found this (among many other posts) in the forums:

https://www.etsy.com/teams/7718/questions/discuss/17658374/

I am pretty sure you cannot use trademarked characters in any way. I would be interested finding out what other team members have to say.

[HildaLea]

I know that saying "inspired by ____" is not acceptable. You're still using the known brand (Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc) to market your own stuff.

[Former_Member]

Actually creating your own characters is exactly what you want to do. Re-creating licensed characters will get you in a heap of trouble, if not get your shop closed down. As for the fabric, if you look at the selvage you will see it clearly stated that it is for personal use only. Yes, there are plenty of shops selling products with licensed fabric, but that doesn't make it right, and they are risking legal action or the loss of their business. Also as Bee stated, simply claiming "inspired by" means absolutely nothing if you are faced with a take down notice, or worse. Ask yourself if it's worth the risk to fight a major company like Disney or the NFL to make your product?

[Former_Member]

Thank you for the advice! It really is sad if you think about it. So many crafters make amazing art pieces using well known characters. The products are so unique it makes them sought after because you can't find anything like it anywhere else. And it's unfair because you can search etsy for "Harry Potter" and thousands of things come up. I'm not saying the risk is worth it...it's not, but it is unfair.

[Former_Member]

One more question about licensing. What if I used sports team colors? No logo included, just the colors and advertized it as the name of the sports team colors? Like Brown and Orange Pom Pom earrings labeled Cleveland Browns Colored Earrings?

[Former_Member]

I found this interesting website about the use of Licensed fabric purchased at Craft Stores. There was a comment in here about not being able to use these fabrics to make and sell items. By this website's claims, as long as we purchased the fabric in a legal store such as a craft store, then it is okay to make and sell the items. Wording could come into play such as stating it as a "Quilt with Disney Princesses" RATHER THAN "A Disney Princess Quilt" Here's the site for anyone interested: http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/HallOfShame/CraftSites/Etsy/forums/6279457_Fabric.shtml

[Former_Member]

And this site explains things very well. It is NOT official legal advice, but the writer has clearly researched the topic at length and explains things VERY well. http://whatthecraft.com/quickie-guide-to-copyright-law/