T-Shirt Forums - View Single Post - I've researched & used the search function, but still have a couple questions

Mikedub · May 12th, 2008

Ok, I'm new here and actually joined really to find out if it was at all feasible to pursue my idea.

Without getting into the details of it, I want to take well-known fictional characters and do all original artwork of them and sell them. From my research it appears that this would be completely illegal unless it is meant to be a parody, which is a grey area in and of itself. So, my questions are; how can I do this legally? Is the only way to contact the owner of the characters and buy/license the rights? If so, is it usually a fee or is it likely that you can set-up a deal where they receive a percentage of profits? Is there any legal way to do it without it being an obvious parody or is it always illegal to use licensed characters?

I am new to this and have never printed any t-shirts before. I also have very little money, so officially licensing well-known characters is not what I'm looking to do (unless there is a way to do that for free).

Thanks in advance for your help.

May 12th, 2008	- #1 (permalink)
Mikedub Forum Member Be nice, this is my first post :) You can call me: Michael Member Since: May 2008 Posts: 1 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	I've researched & used the search function, but still have a couple questions Ok, I'm new here and actually joined really to find out if it was at all feasible to pursue my idea. Without getting into the details of it, I want to take well-known fictional characters and do all original artwork of them and sell them. From my research it appears that this would be completely illegal unless it is meant to be a parody, which is a grey area in and of itself. So, my questions are; how can I do this legally? Is the only way to contact the owner of the characters and buy/license the rights? If so, is it usually a fee or is it likely that you can set-up a deal where they receive a percentage of profits? Is there any legal way to do it without it being an obvious parody or is it always illegal to use licensed characters? I am new to this and have never printed any t-shirts before. I also have very little money, so officially licensing well-known characters is not what I'm looking to do (unless there is a way to do that for free). Thanks in advance for your help.
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