Is it legal to use licensed cartoon characters on crafts that you want to sell?

kmswife: Is it legal to use licensed cartoon characters on crafts that you want to sell?
I am having a craft table a family style fall fest. I am thinking of getting some pumpkins and painting faces on them and decorating them. We got a lot of kids last year so I was wondering if I could do some famous cartoon characters, like disney, hanna barbera etc. Can I get in trouble for that?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Farmall Boy
not unless you want to get sued,thats why they get royalties

Answer by Spectator Ion
You could make your own cartoon characters…
Or use good old Ricky Mouse and Ronald Duck.

Answer by huzz69
Trademark / copyright laws require you get permission to use logos or any likeness thereof

Answer by Jonathan R
It depends where you are selling them. I don’t think anybody is going to care. And remember, it is never illegal, cheating or stealing as long as you don’t get caught.

Answer by birdbackg
You have actually asked two questions. Is it legal? No. Can you get into trouble for it? Again, no. It sounds to me that that where you are selling the items there is not likely to be any attorneys or executives for these companies, nor would they probably care. You are painting them yourself, right? It is then your own creation, a legal grey area. I wouldn’t worry about it. If it is a question of ethics, buy a sticker or video or something with the images you want. You have then paid for these images and can feel comfortable re-creating them. I hope this helps.

Answer by Diane B.
Unfortunately, you can. The problem is *selling* items made with any images which are copyrighted, etc., though whether you *would probably* get in trouble in this situation is a different issue.
Most companies won’t go after (or even know about) smaller or one-time sales, but some are notorious for doing that even at craft fairs (like Disney).

The same is true for other images –like school mascots (and even school colors when used in conjunction with anything school related that’s sold), images created with rubberstamps (though there are many “angel” rubberstamp companies) and images from books, etc. –there are often a limited number of those that are allowed to be sold without specific permission however.

(You can generally use those images for your own things –no selling or profitting– but I think that even that is “technically” illegal.)

I think the kids would go for other kinds of “character-y” pumpkins though, that weren’t specific characters. In other words, just add your own weird decorations for accessories, faces, etc., and don’t worry about trying to duplicate anything they already know (though you could grab a general idea here or there).

HTH,

Diane B.

Answer by bluedot
coloring books are a great idea for this kind of crafting…good luck

Answer by Arbiter
One has to figure how much Disney or Hanna Barbera cares if you are just painting their characters on pumpkins or craft items. How are they going to know and even then it’s not like you’re making millions or even thousands off them – perhaps a few hundred dollars. The way I figure it, you’re giving them free promotion and if they want to barge into a family craft show and start handing out warrants, it’s going to be very bad publicity. “Give me back that pumpkin, kid – that’s illegal! And while you’re at it, wipe that Donald Duck off your cheek!

Example – I once painted Disney characters on the nursery walls of a church I attended and worked at. The minister actually sent off a note to Disney, who suggested we use ready made wall decals, but by then the paintings were done. Those paintings stayed there well over ten years before the room was repainted.

I doubt any big name corporation is even going to care of using their characters on crafts or small scale use, they have bigger fish to fry.