Actual Muppet Puppets

[Vic Romano]

BTW, the show was rained out forcing us inside a rain location where the audience dropped to 250 people... bummer.

 

[MuppetDude]

no it isnt, but if your just playing with your friends and not making money off it then i dont think u need to worry, its when you sell your stuff, or advertise that you do birthday partys with (insert muppet name here), then yes you are breaking copyright and trademark laws,

Even when your puppet obviously isn't an original Muppet (such as different materials used)?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Copyright law prohibits the creation of what are called "derivative works" which means not only can you not make an exact copy of a Muppet without permission you can't even make a similar puppet that resembles one.

For example, the Muppets sued the Canadian TV show "Wimzie's House" because they felt some of the characters were too Fraggle-like and the producer had to settle with them. For Avenue Q they had to clear all of the characters' designs with Sesame Workshop before they could do the show.

Like Ravagefrackle mentioned, although it's a *technical* copyright infringement, no one is likely to sue you for making a Muppet replica for yourself. It's when you sell it or attempt to use it for public performances that you're going to run in to trouble.

 

[Matt Furtado]

Vomiting Kermit?

How does the Conan O'Brian show get away with their vomiting Kermit?

 

[Vic Romano]

How does the Conan O'Brian show get away with their vomiting Kermit?

I guess the same question applys when Justin Timberlake sand with a mock Kermit on SNL. They had to have had permission, I'm assuming.

 

[jtyson]

There are different laws when it comes to paradise like SNL or Conan. They aren’t saying those are the real Kermit or selling copies or representing themselves as Henson Company reps. I am unsure of how the law works but I know its different for parodies. That’s how artists like Weird Al can do what they do. Although If I'm not mistaken Al usually gets permission now. He didn't always though; I remember an incident with Cooli-o when he mocked the Gangster's Paradise song to make his Amish Paradise.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Parodies are considered "fair use" and legal, but even there it's kind of tricky (use of copyrighted material for satire isn't legal). Most TV shows and movies clear things even when they don't have to just to avoid problems.

 

[ravagefrackle]

parody is considered free speech, so when u are making fun of something it is clear that you are not representing that company,. or person, or character.


you do need to be careful about it, but generally its is looked upon as being ok.

 

[Vic Romano]

There are different laws when it comes to paradise like SNL or Conan. They aren’t saying those are the real Kermit or selling copies or representing themselves as Henson Company reps. I am unsure of how the law works but I know its different for parodies. That’s how artists like Weird Al can do what they do. Although If I'm not mistaken Al usually gets permission now. He didn't always though; I remember an incident with Cooli-o when he mocked the Gangster's Paradise song to make his Amish Paradise.

Weird Al has always gotten permission, he has to. Coolio was in fact upset because he did not want Weird Al parodying Gangsta's Paradise, but it wasn't Coolio's decision, it was his managers, of whom Al got permission from to make Amish Paradise. I'm not sure if it's the same for movie, character or TV show parodies, but melodies ARE copy righted and NOT considered free use.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Actually, they're not if they are used in a parody. There was a famous case about this earlier in the year, the guys at JibJab got sued over their "This Land" flash cartoon during the Presidential election (you can read about it here) and sued the copyright owner in order to prove that parody was fair use.

I believe the reason that Weird Al does seek permission is partially as a matter of respect and also because his record company doesn't want to deal with endless court cases (remember, even if what you're doing is fair use someone can still try to sue you).