Legalities of puppet "Look alikes"?

[Goochman]

Does anyone know the legalities of making puppets that look like say a celebrity? Or a movie character?

I have several ideas for them but I'm not sure if I can legally build and sell them. Anyone know?

 

[Melonpool]

I think the legalities lie in whether you say something like "An official Brad Pitt Puppet" vs. Brad "Bitt" or something like that. Also, if you have a spin on it all your own and they're a public figure, you should be in the clear.

There's also a difference when you do a one-off of a celebrity vs. doing a mass market selling to get them into stores. You may also want to shy away from casting the celebs in a bad light (advertising a Michael Jackson puppet as a creepy guy that hunts down children is probably a no-no).

Hope this helps.

 

[Goochman]

very good advice.... thanks!

I was more looking to do one offs of cartoonish celebs.

 

[dwmckim]

I'm not a lawyer but i'd be pretty confident that puppets of celebs fall under parody which is legal fair use (though if they we used in a way that was super offensive, the celeb could have a slander case which would be a harder arguement placed next to the parody arguement). I'd tend to say because of this such puppets are not illegal (unless as posted upthread you were saying falsely that it was in someway endorsed by said celeb)

 

[Goochman]

So you think as long as I don't mass produce them and keep them sort of light and funny I should be okay?

 

[dwmckim]

Perfectly okee-dokee.