General Magma

LEGO Photography: when is selling prints legal?

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I've done a little bit of research on this, and I've found one person who had to stop selling prints of his LEGO photography since it featured Star Wars characters, but I'm not sure it said anything about the LEGO itself and,
in case I ever were to consider doing such a thing myself, I'd like to just make sure there are no potential future problems attached to it.

Now, I'm wondering, would selling such prints be legal if it were, say, a model of your own, and what must be taken into account here?

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Star Wars characters are owned by Disney.  They have issues with anyone profiting off their property without paying for a license or permission. 

You probably can't sell works that contain LEGO's trademarks and copyrights without their permission either.  They may ding you with a C&D.

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I'm working on multivolume LEGO collectors guide that deals mainly with LEGO sets, wooden and other toys they made, and retailer material and glued display models , all as reference material.   I will not go near licensed material, except as viewed on/in a LEGO box, or promotional material.  But standalone figures... no!

Edited by LEGO Historian

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What about the fact that the "LEGO" logo (say that 10 times real fast - LEGO logo) is on almost every exposed stud.  If TLG wanted to, they could claim copyright infringement for every visible stud.  I guess if you are promoting the use of bricks, then its OK.

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Can't you just do the trick "Resemblence to any real or fictional characters owned by third parties is purely coincedental", and just call the pictures "photo of dark lord" "photo of space trooper"

A lot of the minifig customs makers do that, and get away with it.

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8 hours ago, TWP said:

Can't you just do the trick "Resemblence to any real or fictional characters owned by third parties is purely coincedental", and just call the pictures "photo of dark lord" "photo of space trooper"

A lot of the minifig customs makers do that, and get away with it.

If you paid for a table and selling crafted stuff at a comic/anime fan convention, the convention organizers have something similar in their rules and FAQ for sellers.  Basically creatively call it something else, not the copyrighted or trademarked or licensed name.  :wink:

 

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