Copyright question, eBay related

[Fozzie54]

Hi all,

It was my understanding that money could not be made off of the Muppet characters because they are copyrighted (unless you are reselling an item that you bought that was created by a company that was Henson approved). Can someone explain to me how this person Ebay (see link below) is allowed to sell these Muppet onesies, which it appears she's embroidered or ironed on herself? I'd have sold quilts with Sesame Street fabric in them a long time ago if I hadn't thought it was clearly illegal.... am I confused about copyright?

http://stores.ebay.com/The-Kids-Line_MUPPETS-THEME_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZQ2d1QQftidZ2QQtZkm

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Those look very well done. Are you sure the seller did it themselves and it's not factory made and they sell it?

Otherwise, I'd have thought it was illegal if they are just making it up.

But, if it's part of a program that is computed and entered into the embroidery machine (as they do at the varsity sports places) then it may not be illegal.

 

[sugarbritchez]

Yeah I have seen disks for the machine that have the characters already made up that are perfectly legal. You can buy them at the sewing machine shops. I know they have Mickey Mouse and Seaseme Street ones.

~Angela

 

[Beth C]

You mean this?

Muppets Sewing Card

Yep, it's perfectly legal. I know somone who owns one of those types of machines - they make all sorts of embroidery cards for them.

~Beth C

 

[Fozzie54]

Thanks for the replies. I still don't understand how it could be legal to make things with the Muppet embroidery designs and sell them, but you can't make quilts from the Quilting with the Muppets book and sell them. Isn't it the same thing? Is there some special law for embroidery? I thought you could make as many as you wanted and give them as gifts, but you couldn't make a profit from them?

 

[Beth C]

I guess that depends on what you consider to be a 'profit'.

From what I see, her price includes the cost of the 'onsie', the thread (believe it or not, multiple skeins of thread for those machines are NOT cheap and you have to get multiple colors) and then the time and effort she put into making it.

$10 may seem like a profit,but if she even makes $2 over cost, I'd say she's earned it. It's not easy to get those things just right under the needle.

I've tried to make doll clothes before, and the woman I previously mentioned DID make them, but boy the effort was not worth the price she ended up getting.

~Beth C

 

[MrTheFrog]

It's a good question and the answer is this:

If you purchase Muppet printed fabric, patches, etc, you can sell the clothes, hats, blankets that you make out of them because the Henson/Disney Co have already made their money when the initial patch/fabric was purchased from the store. So even though you have reshaped it or attached it to something else, you are simple reselling an item that you purchased (in an altered state). Disney, Warner, and a number of other companies have tried to fight it, but they've lost in court every time.

However, if you decide to make a Muppet shirt, and draw your own Muppet on it, or cut a Muppet's face out of pieces of felt, or embroider your own Muppet design onto a hat, etc. then it is illegal, because the Henson/Disney Co. has not gotten their share from it.

Is that pretty clear, or did I make it confusing? Lemme know,
-Artie

 

[MuppetsRule]

Very clear and very interesting.

THANKS!

 

[Fozzie54]

If you purchase Muppet printed fabric, patches, etc, you can sell the clothes, hats, blankets that you make out of them because the Henson/Disney Co have already made their money when the initial patch/fabric was purchased from the store. So even though you have reshaped it or attached it to something else, you are simple reselling an item that you purchased (in an altered state). However, if you decide to make a Muppet shirt, and draw your own Muppet on it, or cut a Muppet's face out of pieces of felt, or embroider your own Muppet design onto a hat, etc. then it is illegal, because the Henson/Disney Co. has not gotten their share from it.

That helps a lot, thanks! Now, what if a patch or iron-on happened to say "Not for resale" on it? Then you couldn't sell things you'd made with it, right?

 

[Fozzie54]

I meant to add also to that last post- how come purchasing the quilting book isn't considered the same as purchasing the quilting fabric, i.e. it's illegal to put together the patterns out of felt from the book and sell a quilt, but you could sell a quilt made with preprinted character fabrics?