Copyright issues with custom keycaps

[sumrandomguy1993]

I'm thinking of making my own keycaps and I'm trying to come up with ideas, some of the ideas being characters from some of my favourite TV shows/ games/ films.
Would there be any issues with copyright or trademarks etc if I was to try and sell some of them?

[blastoid]

Technically yes, but it would be very unlikely that anything would become of it. Worst case, you may get a C&D.

Source: my wife does cakes.

[sumrandomguy1993]

Technically yes, but it would be very unlikely that anything would become of it. Worst case, you may get a C&D.

Source: my wife does cakes.

Okay that's cool, thanks very much for the info!

[Puddsy]

Yeah, it falls under fan art, so it should be fine.

Like the other guy said, worst you'll get it probably a C&D.

[hwood34]

And usually you'll only get a C&D if you start making serious money off of what you're doing

[slip84]

Yeah, it falls under fan art, so it should be fine.

Like the other guy said, worst you'll get it probably a C&D.

Care to elaborate? Are you a copyright lawyer?

[Puddsy]

Yeah, it falls under fan art, so it should be fine.

Like the other guy said, worst you'll get it probably a C&D.

Care to elaborate? Are you a copyright lawyer?

No, but my dad deals with this a lot, so I asked him.

It's the same reason CC's Vader keycaps are OK.

There was a thread on it before I went into hiding, try and find that.

[slip84]

Pretty sure lifting copyrighted material for personal profit isn't just "okay" under copyright law as fanart. That said, I'm no copyright lawyer, either.

[Puddsy]

Pretty sure lifting copyrighted material for personal profit isn't just "okay" under copyright law as fanart. That said, I'm no copyright lawyer, either.

Technically no, but if you're not pulling massive amounts of cash, most companies will just ignore it.

$1500-2k a year is nothing to most corporations, so they'll let it slide.

[sumrandomguy1993]

Pretty sure lifting copyrighted material for personal profit isn't just "okay" under copyright law as fanart. That said, I'm no copyright lawyer, either.

Technically no, but if you're not pulling massive amounts of cash, most companies will just ignore it.

$1500-2k a year is nothing to most corporations, so they'll let it slide.

Yea, I didn't think it would be but if I'm not making thousands in profit over it and it's not that noticeable it should be okay... ish? )

[Huxley2500]

There are lots of examples of lawyers going after the "little guys"

[sumrandomguy1993]

There are lots of examples of lawyers going after the "little guys"

So you think it's probably best not to do stuff that could cause problems?

[noisyturtle]

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

[Asininity]

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

[noisyturtle]

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

Show Image

I was thinking a series of 3d modeled Issac heads in various forms. Regular Issac, Eve, Satan, maybe one of those grotesque guys with bombs in their heads.

[naasfu]

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

you just want poop caps.

[Asininity]

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

you just want poop caps.

That wouldn't be too difficult to mold with some sculpty.

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

Show Image

I was thinking a series of 3d modeled Issac heads in various forms. Regular Issac, Eve, Satan, maybe one of those grotesque guys with bombs in their heads.

That would look great. I wish I was competent with Blender.

[sumrandomguy1993]

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

Show Image

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

Show Image

I was thinking a series of 3d modeled Issac heads in various forms. Regular Issac, Eve, Satan, maybe one of those grotesque guys with bombs in their heads.

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

you just want poop caps.

That wouldn't be too difficult to mold with some sculpty.

BINDING OF ISSAC CAPS PLEASE!

BINGE PLS!

Show Image

I was thinking a series of 3d modeled Issac heads in various forms. Regular Issac, Eve, Satan, maybe one of those grotesque guys with bombs in their heads.

That would look great. I wish I was competent with Blender.

Yea I'd definitely be up for doing some Binding of Isaac caps. I'll be hand making them all though, so might take me a while :))

[noisyturtle]

There are so many options for easily craftable round little heads:
   

   

[sumrandomguy1993]

These would all be amazing to do, I'll see what I can do!

Anything else you'd be interested in?

[blastoid]

I listen to the weekly Current Geek podcast, and at the end of most episodes, there are short segments submitted from (I assume) listeners. One regular, "Legal Geek," is a patent/trademark attorney (@BuckeyeFitzy), and his bit on last week's show was concerning this very issue. Specifically, vendors at Comic- and other Cons selling obviously unlicensed merchandise. How do they get away with it?

His answer was that they are absolutely violating copyright, but the big guys generally ignore the little guys for two reasons: 1. It would not be cost-effective to pursue every violation, and 2. They are helping propagate brand awareness.

[sumrandomguy1993]

I did always wonder how they got away with it, but that's very interesting. I'll have to have a read more about it all before I go ahead with anything.

[Data]

I did always wonder how they got away with it, but that's very interesting. I'll have to have a read more about it all before I go ahead with anything.

There've been lots of studies on this.  It's generally counter-productive in the long run for big corporations to pursue trademark infringement when the scope of the infringement is small fan-made products and knock-offs.

A recent thread covered this in more detail:  https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=68004.0

[sumrandomguy1993]

I did always wonder how they got away with it, but that's very interesting. I'll have to have a read more about it all before I go ahead with anything.

There've been lots of studies on this.  It's generally counter-productive in the long run for big corporations to pursue trademark infringement when the scope of the infringement is small fan-made products and knock-offs.

A recent thread covered this in more detail:  https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=68004.0

Hmm, so even though technically it is illegal, if I do infringe any copyrights nothing will happen because the huge businesses won't bother?

[noisyturtle]

I did always wonder how they got away with it, but that's very interesting. I'll have to have a read more about it all before I go ahead with anything.

There've been lots of studies on this.  It's generally counter-productive in the long run for big corporations to pursue trademark infringement when the scope of the infringement is small fan-made products and knock-offs.

A recent thread covered this in more detail:  https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=68004.0

I always assumed fan-made stuff and homages were totally legal. Just look at Etsy.

[sumrandomguy1993]

I did always wonder how they got away with it, but that's very interesting. I'll have to have a read more about it all before I go ahead with anything.

There've been lots of studies on this.  It's generally counter-productive in the long run for big corporations to pursue trademark infringement when the scope of the infringement is small fan-made products and knock-offs.

A recent thread covered this in more detail:  https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=68004.0

I always assumed fan-made stuff and homages were totally legal. Just look at Etsy.

Oh god yea, I had a look for something to do with My Neighbour Totoro the other day and there were at least twenty pages.

[blastoid]

I always assumed fan-made stuff and homages were totally legal. Just look at Etsy.

I always assumed downloading movies was totally legal. Just look at torrentz.eu.   

[sumrandomguy1993]

I always assumed fan-made stuff and homages were totally legal. Just look at Etsy.

I always assumed downloading movies was totally legal. Just look at torrentz.eu.   

Downloading movies isn't legal?!  )

[DrHubblePhD]

I think TS is right. Although it may be against copyright policy, it's likely nothing will come of it unless you start making a lot of money. That said, it will be hard to get them produced seeing that most companies like SP or WASD will refuse to do custom sets with copyrighted material on them.

[Data]

I did always wonder how they got away with it, but that's very interesting. I'll have to have a read more about it all before I go ahead with anything.

There've been lots of studies on this.  It's generally counter-productive in the long run for big corporations to pursue trademark infringement when the scope of the infringement is small fan-made products and knock-offs.

A recent thread covered this in more detail:  https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=68004.0

Hmm, so even though technically it is illegal, if I do infringe any copyrights nothing will happen because the huge businesses won't bother?

If we're talking key caps, it may not be illegal even under the strictest interpretation of the law.  If it passes the legal test then it's fine even if it uses IP or marks owned by another company and is produced without the owner's permission.  Seriously, check out that thread.  There's some wiggle room in the trademark, copyright, and patent laws.

Full disclosure: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

[sumrandomguy1993]

I did always wonder how they got away with it, but that's very interesting. I'll have to have a read more about it all before I go ahead with anything.

There've been lots of studies on this.  It's generally counter-productive in the long run for big corporations to pursue trademark infringement when the scope of the infringement is small fan-made products and knock-offs.

A recent thread covered this in more detail:  https://geekhack.org/index.php?topic=68004.0

Hmm, so even though technically it is illegal, if I do infringe any copyrights nothing will happen because the huge businesses won't bother?

If we're talking key caps, it may not be illegal even under the strictest interpretation of the law.  If it passes the legal test then it's fine even if it uses IP or marks owned by another company and is produced without the owner's permission.  Seriously, check out that thread.  There's some wiggle room in the trademark, copyright, and patent laws.

Full disclosure: I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice.

Yea I've had a read through, looks like I'll be going ahead with my ideas when I get all my equipment, thanks!