Question about making up characters...

well it depends on how you use them. you obviously need to change some things , and obviously don't use the actual name of the character(your example).

Let me give you a scenario about what hap'n to me last year at the Staples Center down here in los angeles. I was at the NBA finals out side the staple center. i had made character such as kobe , magic, and kareem abdul jabbar. Im mean they look just like them and every1 knew who they were with out me have'n to put kobe or magic or kareem on the shirt. but in the design of the kareem i had a little "L" that look real close to the Laker's "L". An "NBA" official came out side and told me that i couldn't sell that here.......I ask him why, and he pointed at the "L'' which was on kareem's shorts. So pretty much that was the only thing i couldn't sell that night. Needless to say i went home that night and made about 30more kareem's but removed the "L" and went back to the next game. The same "NBA" official cam e out side to see my shirts and ask to look at them again. Pretty much he was cool with it.
Another scenario of how companies get away with certain things. Have you ever played "NBA Live" on playstation? WEll since the begining of the game (1994) Michael Jordan was never in the game. But there was this player called "player 99" which looked like MJ and even was the best player in the game. But they just didn't say it was MJ. that's how they got away without have'n to pay MJ for using his name or character. But every1 knows that that is MIchael Jordan. hope this help. but i would still go do some more research about copy right laws. JMHO.

here's a kobe that i did but it still has the "L'' i was talking a bout.

as you can see , that looks like kobe right. but there is nothing on here that say kobe bryant or lakers(- the "L") and even the Nike logo i removed......

but when it comes to phrases or those shirts that say some thing like : instead of "Von Dutch" it say "Von F##k" or "Von dusche"
there's a fine line .........

for all i care, i don't know who kobe is or this could jus t be some1 who looks like him. hey it worked for me. oh and instead of #24 it was #42. this is just the orginal 1 i did before it got on my shirts.

The biggest problem is they can sue you if they feel like it. They have the money, so it's really up to them whether or not they think it's worth it.

Like you said, in such an oversaturated area it's actually pretty hard to prove your idea isn't a copy. If you have a whole comic to go with it (it's not just merchandise) I think you'd be in a much, much better position. There's few truly original ideas in comics, and new comics will by necessity resemble old ones. But if you're only selling merchandise, it might look more like you're trying to make a buck off their intellectual property.

Lawyers are quite capable of bending reality to fit their own continuum if the company decides they want to sue you. Personally I don't think the law matters as much as what the corporations will allow you to do does. You're at their mercy more than the law's. The key is to, for whatever reason, make sure they don't want to sue you (too much effort, too little profit, they expect to lose - whatever works).

What I'm getting as if Marvel sues Disney over The Incredibles then both of them send their permanently employed lawyers into a room, they throw around arguments for a while about "they copied me" "no, comic ideas are so generic it's just a coincidence", the judge bangs a gavel and everyone goes home. If Marvel sues you, they pound you into the dirt like a bully.

Come to think about it.....

what solmu said is true.... there is only a few original comic book stories.. and the new ones will start to resemble the old ones. After all, what "new" could you come up with if a super hero already has the ability to fly, see through walls, being the strongest person in the world, breathe under water, create fire, creat ice, travel through time, etc. The whole spectrum of what we can add on to a character has already been crossed, and maybe 5 or 10 times more.

How much of a design can you make difference if every color scheme has been put together, if every armor and weapons and powers has been put together.

I guess the point that I am tryign to make is... it seems as if now a days... the comic book companies are exchanging "abilities" from one new super hero to the next.... dont you agree?

So I am thinking.. why should I get a slapped with a lawsuit for doing the same thing they are doing? They are mixing up color schemes... they are mixing up superhero abilities. Why can't I?

^^^Sorry for the rant^^^

dom42... do you have a website for your clothing line? it would be cool to see some of your other works!!!

fresh123... you are right about the incredibles and the fantastic four.. they all have the same abilities. the only difference that I see is.. instead of using the Fantastic Four colors (blue and white and black?), the Incredible colors are red yellow and black. Same powers and even same costume design!

I think the thing you just pointed out just really helped me (and others) out with fear of the same issues (copyright infringement) coming up! Thank you!