Startups Stack Exchange Archive

What laws should I be wary of when posting merchandise stuff of ETSY(or a site similar to that)

What laws should I be wary of when posting merchandise stuff of ETSY(or sites like it) that is from a franchise like Ben 10, Stars Wars, Lord of the Rings or Star Trek?

I haven’t done this yet, but I heard that it is lucrative and I am really good at making these kinds of goods. But I don’t want to do it if it is illegal or will get me into trouble. I would do this along side my other craft business, to show people what I already capable of and that my success is proven?

Would I need a license?

Would I need to pay fines? Or have a lawyer?

Would this be possible at all?

I know people do these things, but I want to know how legal it is.

Answer 243

Generally it’s a copyright, and in some cases, it would be a trademark issue. So, here goes, those of you who’ve read what I’ve written here will recognize this, it depends.

Long story short, yes, you “could” “get in trouble.” You’d obviously be very well off if you had an explicit license, but it’s quite possible that that would get expensive. Each publisher probably has listed contact information for licensing.

So, back to why I put those things in quotes.

Could

By this, I mean that yes, it is their right to stop you from using their brand. They hold the appropriate copyrights and their lawyers are probably very good at their jobs.

But that said, many wouldn’t. In general, publishers benefit from fan art. If lots of people get really into the story and make lots of fan art, that’s just free publicity for the original content. So your best option would just be to look at what they’ve done in the past: have they taken down major fan art creators? For an example, Lucas Films has.

Get in Trouble

So what do I mean by getting in trouble? Well, ha, that depends. What could they do?

  1. The most likely scenario would be for the original content creator to start you off with a letter to cease and desist. If that happened, then yes, a lawyer would not be a bad idea. But basically, your response would be to stop doing it (as the letter’s title suggests). At that point, it would all be over with and you’d have lost nothing more than if you had never started. Basically, this would just be a friendly reminder that “hey, you’re using our copyrights/trademarks and we’d rather you not.” Of course, if you didn’t stop, things would get a bit more serious. They could also sue you even if you did take it down, but that, well, depends on a lot of factors.
  2. Less “ideally,” they could sue you. Depending on where you are, that lawsuit could even involve punitive damages, which just means you’d be sued for more. Again, definitely lawyer-worthy. But I would expect a cease and desist letter first, from most publishers.

It really just depends on how they feel about you, your business, and whether they feel that they had lost money as a result of your creations.

Long story short, you’d be best to get a license if you intend to make money from it. I would post those items at most with an “open-source” mindset, as you say to promote your other work, rather than selling anything. You should set yourself up with limited liability through the creation of an LLC or equivalent, and as always, speaking briefly with a lawyer wouldn’t be a bad idea.

All content is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.