Oh! Thanks for explaining! What my other talents are, are: crocheting (lately, lots and lots of stuff for my reborn, Remi:grin:), handsewing, painting items like wood boxes, simple jewelry making and decopauge. My Etsy store has those kinds of things, plus vintage and supplies.
Regarding the Avatar doll…it is my understanding that if, for example, your bestie made you the doll as a gift, then that’s not illegal. It’s when someone starts to profit from it that it’s illegal. There are literally thousands of Etsy stores filled with items “inspired by” that have been there for years and have done quite well. However, there are also as many that get caught and their livelihood is gone. IMHO, it’s all a matter of what risk a person is willing to take and if that person feels comfortable selling items that are not of their own design.
Technically, you can’t even use fabric with licensed characters printed on it and create a garment or item for sale.
If you make something in the likeness of a licensed character and sell it you do take the risk of getting caught. On the other hand there are so many things like this out there, you probably wouldn’t get called on it.
I made Jasper and Clover awhile back and advertised as Elf on a Shelf. My babies were pulled and they said I could not use " Elf on a Shelf" or I could be sued. So be careful what you call your alternative little ones.
I made a grinch in the past. I had it listed as “inspired by” and what not. The Dr. Suess people DO NOT CARE! They will 100% come after you if they find it. At first they will ask you to take it down and/or report it to where you have it listed. Mine was on Etsy. The Grinch has a copyright. It doesn’t matter if you call it the grinch or not its the idea of the character. If you do not comply and take it down, they send you a cease and desist letter. If you still do not comply, they will sue you. I belong to many Etsy groups and have seen it happen several times with lots of different products. About once a year they make a sweep and try to clear it all out. This being said, yes, people do get away with it. If you happen to be one of them, consider yourself lucky. Dr. Suess is very protective over their ideas and characters just like Disney. You dont have to take my word for it though. Join some of the Etsy and Ebay groups. You will see countless stories of this happening to people.
I remember about 15-20 years ago, paint and body shops were painting characters(mainly Warner and Disney) on cars. They were notified and told to stop. I stopped seeing them around and wondered if they were forced to repaint over them.
It wouldn’t surprise me. They protect their brand with all they have. And us little people dont have the money to fight them if they tell us to remove it. I know Disney has cracked down hard the last couple of years. I have a friend in Etsy that sells bows and she had to pull all of her Disney merch. Which is insane because she uses liscensed ribbon. You use to be able to do that back when my daughter was little but now it seems like they arent even allowing that.
Copy right is such a funny thing. That’s why I asked, you even with being a music teacher people assume you can let your kids sing songs in elementary schools off the radio and that that it is legal, when it may slide but you are suppose to have permission.
Not to offend anyone or stir up any controversy, but I can kind of see Disney/Seuss/etc. point, even though it’s annoying. After all, we are all trying to stop the scam sites from using other people’s work/photos to make a profit, and we get angry every time we learn of a new one. When they use stolen photos or even stolen sculpts, they are essentially stealing others’ intellectual property and impacting the rightful owner’s ability to make a profit from their own ideas. That being said, I have made and sold a baby Groot, crossing my fingers the whole time that Disney/Marvel wouldn’t come after me. Not trying to start a debate, just playing devils advocate lol
So with all this talk about copyright, I am also not trying to stir up any controversy but how do you think Disney would view the Reborn Yoda babies that are becoming popular? I don’t know if Yoda is a vinyl kit or if people buy Yoda dolls and reassemble using the cuddle bodies. I hope they don’t come after anybody for doing that.
I’m not entirely sure, but I would think that would be ok since (at least the ones I’ve seen) those are licensed Yoda dolls that people have legitimately purchased from a store and are reborning and reselling. I would think those would be allowed since Disney already got their profit from the sale of the original doll. I am guessing that it would be like reselling collectors toys on eBay or something. Now, if a person sculpted their own, modified a kit to look like Yoda, or reborned an existing kit to resemble Yoda (I’ve been tempted to try to make the Bipsey kit I’ve been saving into a Yoda) then that would be frowned upon.
I’m interested to see how this plays out. But only because I have a friend who was using liscensed Disney ribbon purchased from a store to make bows. She was told to pull them all. I would think this would kind of be along the same lines as the bow thing. (Taking a liscensed product and making and altering it). I wonder if they (Disney) will say anything about the Yoda babies.
Yeah, it doesn’t make any sense to me either that you can’t sell bows made from officially licensed ribbon. Doesn’t seem logical. I sell digital educational resources on another online site and certain corporations, especially Disney, Seuss, and elf on the shelf, will do periodic sweeps of the site, sending cease and desist letters to any seller using their names, mages, characters, etc. in products. Seuss won’t even let you post a tall red and white striped top hat on a product! I don’t touch those company’s intellectual properties with a ten foot pole in my teaching resources. In fact, teachers aren’t even supposed to show Disney movies in class because of copyright issues.
I don’t think the Yoda babies are ok. The reason I say that is. People rightfully purchase ribbon. Or a sculpt. Or whatever it is. And are making products with it.
The companies already got paid.
But you still can’t use those items to create a product to sell…unless you have permission.
It would be the same for baby Yoda. They are using the star wars franchise and copyright to sell a product without permission.
Not saying they aren’t adorable. But. Disney owns star wars. And Disney does not play when it comes to their copyrights. Lol
), handsewing, painting items like wood boxes, simple jewelry making and decopauge. My Etsy store has those kinds of things, plus vintage and supplies.
They will 100% come after you if they find it. At first they will ask you to take it down and/or report it to where you have it listed. Mine was on Etsy. The Grinch has a copyright. It doesn’t matter if you call it the grinch or not its the idea of the character. If you do not comply and take it down, they send you a cease and desist letter. If you still do not comply, they will sue you. I belong to many Etsy groups and have seen it happen several times with lots of different products. About once a year they make a sweep and try to clear it all out. This being said, yes, people do get away with it. If you happen to be one of them, consider yourself lucky. Dr. Suess is very protective over their ideas and characters just like Disney. You dont have to take my word for it though. Join some of the Etsy and Ebay groups. You will see countless stories of this happening to people.
