What constitutes an infringement of a copyright?
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What constitutes an infringement of a copyright?
I am a 57 year old grandmother who made a homemade craft idea for my grandsons. It was so popular,I have recieved many requests to make more. So I thought, why not sell them? Now someone said to me, that’s copyright infringement? What? I am clueless. I took a 2 foot mini X-mas tree and with the help of my sewing machine and a few nifty ideas, turned this tree into
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Asked on April 21, 2016 under Business Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
The problem is that Darth Vader is a copyrighted character (he may be trademarked as well), so creating a product using his image is a violation of copyright (and possibly trademark). While the purchaser of a copyrghted or trademarked figure or item may resell it "as is," if you combine it with another product or products, you are creating a adaptation or derivative product--a new product based on and using the copyrighted image--and that's something you can't do. While it's certainly possible that no one might notice or, if they do notice, care, you will be, by the act of creating an new product (the Star Wars tree) using copyrighted images, be in violation of copyright (and maybe trademark) and could potentially face legal action.
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