Homemade items confiscated?

[Dismama2boys]

I guess next time I'll not use pronouns. I wasn't saying Disney themselves didn't have the time, the cast members do not. Also it's not their area of expertise. My intent was to assure the OP their handmade gear is good and fine to wear, that is all.

Gotcha. The nuances of the written language! I probably didn't read as clearly as I should have.

 

[Geoff_M]

I don't think the OP has anything to be concerned about. Crafting for personal use is completely legal and even encouraged. And while crafting for sale is a grey-ish area, as long as you're not setting up a factory to churn out knock-off counterfeit Disney merch, you're still fine. Especially if your work is in some way "transformative" (ie, it's obvious you didn't buy it at the Disney Store).

The problem is that there are no clear-cut rules about when the use of a work is or isn't transformative and therefore "fair use". That's only a defense that can be used in a court and it's up to the judge to determine if a work is or isn't transformative enough to avoid legal action. This article from NOLO does a good job of showing cases where such defenses have worked, and other where they failed. Simply producing something that doesn't look it would come from Disney I don't think is evidence that it's sufficiently "transformative."

It's clear that with regard to things like the t-shirts designed by Ms. Hallion, some of them (particularly the ones that don't show faces) contain enough ambiguity (such as her "Belle") that it probably isn't a clear violation of Disney copyrights... but others seem to be on more shaky grounds. Quite frankly, there's a lot of bit-players in the non-Disney "Disney" merchandise that Disney has so far opted not to pursue legal action against (for reasons only known to them), but that doesn't mean that they couldn't, nor does it mean that they wouldn't win if they did. A good example are a lot of the t-shirts designed by WDW News Today and sold through Teepublic. Some of them might be covered under the "satire" exception for fair use, but others seem like clear violations of Disney copyrights (particularly the ones that only feature a simple copyrighted Disney character, like Big Al, and nothing else or the ones that only consist of retro WDW resort or theme park logos). It also clear that Disney legal keeps tabs on what they put out and aren't afraid to reach out to the WDWNT staff when they see something that they don't want them to sell. I listen to their pod casts regularly and on more than one occasion they have mentioned an old t-shirt design that they stopped selling after getting a note or phone call from Disney management asking them to "pull it"... with which they then complied. That doesn't mean that the items they haven't complained about aren't technical violations of Disney's rights, only that (as I've said before) Disney can pick their battles on this front.

I think that all such artists know that they're walking along a line with regard to the works that they create and as such try to keep as close to the "good side" of the line to avoid poking the 800 lb. legal gorilla.

 

[chartle]

1. The problem is that there are no clear-cut rules about when the use of a work is or isn't transformative and therefore "fair use"......

2. Some of them might be covered under the "satire" exception for fair use, .....

1. Yes I sort of work in the graphics industry so go to various sites like this to discuss graphics issues. I'm also in part of a crafting community that tries or wants to use copyrighted material. A myth constantly comes up that if you change something X% its OK.

2, Also have to be careful about this satire or comedy exception. You have to be satirizing the IP itself not using it to satirize something else.

Note I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV but I took one semester of business law as part of my major and subscribe to the Lawful Masses Youtube channel with everyone's favorite copyright attorney Leonard French.

 

[Geoff_M]

...and subscribe to the Lawful Masses Youtube channel with everyone's favorite copyright attorney Leonard French.

Hmmmm, I'll have to check that channel out. Thanks. I'm not a lawyer either, but as a semi-pro photographer copyright law is something that's important to me.

 

[chartle]

Hmmmm, I'll have to check that channel out. Thanks. I'm not a lawyer either, but as a semi-pro photographer copyright law is something that's important to me.

sent you a PM