This is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, hire an attorney.
Law Question wrote:>>
Hello all,
An artist friend and I are considering creating a company to sell her
Harry Potter artwork. What are the trademark and/or copyright
ramifications in the US? Specifically:
1) Is original artwork based on a book's characters legal in the first
place?
No. You may be able to get away with some instances of parody, but probably
not.
2) We would like to sell it retail if possible. Can we reference Harry
Potter if we specifically disavow any relationship with the publisher
or movie?
Doesn't matter. The copyright of the character belongs to the publisher and
producers.
3) Can we sell it if we don't reference Harry Potter at all?
If the character being presented resembles the actual character by such a
degree that people will recognize the character as such, no.
4) Lastly, and probably least likely :), we were considering having
quotes from the book on the artwork to give it context. Is that a
copyright violation, or do short quotes fall under fair use? I know
that short quotes can be used in reviews, but I'm not sure how broad
that is.
Copyright violation possible. I don't believe artwork can be seen as a
review.
I know the safest route would be to try and secure a license from the
publisher, but I'd like to figure out what my other options are before
I go down that potentially expensive road. :)
Obtaining the license is probably the ONLY way to go which would not get you
into legal problems.
Thank you very much in advance for any information.
Jeff
P.S. I posted a similar question in misc.legal.moderated, but then I
figured this group might have a bit wider audience.
