Disney would have a field day on here

That’s interesting, we were having a discussion about this at home because my daughter wanted to buy an I pad case for her boyfriend and saw a ‘marvel’ one on etsy. (Made using marvel fabric) She asked me if that was copyright and I had no idea.

Marvel’s owned by Disney these days - or at least Marvel’s Avengers movies are…
Beware the mouse!

All in all i guess that it takes plenty of time, money and energy to police copyrights/trademarks.
More and more you see makers sailing close to the wind in this area, if they wish to take the risk then that is their own personal choice…although if they are unlucky enough to come unstuck then they will ultimately face the headache which comes along with taking that chance and being caught out.

Christine

I’ts been said that not many people are aware of Folksy, so maybe it’s worth the risk. Marg. x

But then you have to decide
Do you want to be an honest lawful trader with a honest reputation or a fly by night rogue trader who produces knocks off and having Trading standards sniffing around your door and possibility of being sued/having your shop closed down. Getting yourself and your business a bad reputation.

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You could have just hit the nail on the head with your post @memicrafts!

I wonder now how many commonly used ordinary words should, by the letter of the law, be copyrighted? Frozen is the most obvious, but what about phrases or made-up words that have passed into our language? Thinking things like ghostbuster, diva,wombles …when you use them, people know what you mean. If I said some kids were chasing like Tom and Jerry,most people would have the imaginary frying pan out but the two names are copyrighted. If you were to use them in this sort of narrative in a book, would you be infringing copyright?
How far is safe and legal?

It all depends on the context of the item for sale. ‘Frozen’ as a word can be used by anyone, but for example, if Ford or a car maker registered “Ford Frozen” as a trademark, then you could not, even if they decided not to sell the car. Using ‘Frozen’ on a market stall or craft stall against similar figures or items which came from the film is a no-no, (unless licensed).
It’s best just to tell customers who look, that the designs have a resemblance to ‘Frozen’, without making it obvious and avoiding references in writing.

There is a fine line in copyright law as to whether you are breaching copyright using, say, a Disney character if you sell e.g. jewellery or a figure similar to the the Disney features but not exactly the same.

British / UK copyright law has been updated this year, and I know you can be done for taking another’s design and making some changes and marketing it as your own.

Of course, it depends upon the degree of changes made, whether it is considered to be a “derivative” of the original design, and if the designer can prove in court that you have plagiarised his or her design and made something from it on the back of the designer. There has been case law, and many cases are probably settled out of court.
Could you afford it if it came to the crunch ! ? Probably not.

Don’t forget copyright and Trademarked items are not the same thing and Disney Trademarks all their stuff.

And most of what see it in breach of Trademark more that copyright.

It goes well beyond Disney though, even as Denise pointed out once words fall into ever day use it’s easy to forget that they are in fact trademarked/wordmarked.

There’s a powerful lot of kindle and ipad cases on here … they should rightfully be referred to as tablet cases suitable for xx inch tablets and ereaders since they’re not in fact made by amazon or apple, even describing them as tablet cases suitable for kindle/ipad might be floating too close to the line.

But then again even I was guilty of that one when I was selling them:)

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A lot of mobile phone companies allow the use of their produce names to be used but only if you are saying fits this model is compartable with this model.

They don’t allow it as such, they merely don’t take issue with it because their money is in phones and tablets and not the variety of accessories necessary to suit all tastes. There are in fact case manufacturers who are fully licensed by Amazon to use the brand name ‘kindle’. The same goes for Apple.

I wasn’t one of them, I made cases that happened to fit certain kindle models and listed them here as kindle cases … effectively piggybacking a bigger company’s name in order to be found online and hopefully sell a few of them and I don’t really mind admitting to it, the fact that everyone else does the same thing doesn’t change the fact that I didn’t ask for nor was I granted permission to use any of those brand names.

As I understand it, you can use the word “frozen” as in icy, cold, snowy etc as long as there is no implication (direct or otherwise) that it is in any way related to the Disney film, characters or branding. Because if the implication is there, then the ONLY reason it is there is to capitalise on that brand and draw in potential buyers using the Disney brand rather than the maker’s/seller’s own.

As for Kindle, Apples etc, there are ways of wording a description that would make it obvious that the item would be suitable for use with those brands, without actually says the brand names. Most people with a Kindle would know what an “e-reader” is for example. Making Kindle covers, to me, shows a good use of creative application and finding a market that cannot be adequately filled by Amazon. Whereas making a “Frozen” inspired princess dress that looks extremely similar to the dress worn by the character in the film is not artistically challenging and is no different to the fake Nike trainers sold on street corners.

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I’ve found “fakes” in fabric also. A market trader said “it’s Cath Kidston”. I informed him that it was not so and he should not be telling people it is, and if TS found out they wouldn’t be very pleased, to which he replied “it’s similar to CK.” If I bought that fabric unwittingly thinking it was CK, and said an item was made from CK fabric, I would be in serious trouble if TS found out. So it’s not just images to be careful of. Marg. x

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Just did a craft fair in the Home Counties, and next to my stall were a couple selling just “Frozen” items, large “Frozen” prints and mini-frozen toys. I could tell that even from a distance, the items were not licensed. The toys were in small see-through cellophane packets and no indication of CE marks, or safety notices or licensing text/images. If they were licensed items via Disney, there would always be copyright and licensing marks on the packaging - Always !
They probably bought them via the internet from China or the far east, and they could have been made of anything !

It was a charity fair, and the organiser just does this once a year, and probably doesn’t ask questions of the sellers. However, a good day for me, as several sellers bought my cards, and was asked to teach some photography too.

Yes, people are risking a great deal. disney are well known for coming down on copyright breach like a ton of bricks, they have very expensive lawyers and won’t care who you are, if you illegally use their design and trade using their trade marks and copyrighted names, which is basically everything they’ve ever made, you could be sued for a VERY large amount of money. Up to you whether you take note or not.

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