Would it be legal to make clay figures of a copywritten character and sell it on ebay?

Question

I'd like to make clay figures of storyline characters from a MMO I play (Guild Wars) and maybe player characters as well for a bit of cash. Not so willing if it would get me into trouble with ArenaNet!

Answer 1

Would only be legal if you obtained permission (usually involves a written agreement whereby you would agree to send them an agreed upon percentage of sales) from the copywrighter/artist of the character, otherwise they can sue you for copywright infringement.

Answer 2

Read over your terms of service, there is a section in there concerning fan art, every mmorpg has one. That should give you some insight as to how to go about doing that. You might have to write the company for permission to use their images.

Or you can just go ahead and do it. Normally if the company has a problem they will go to e-bay to take it off, they rarely go after fans. I use to play EQ (Iksar monks rock) and use to see plat and characters for sell all the time, they would have e-bay stop the sell but never went after the sellers to my knowledge (well they would ban accounts but never sued). Figurines at least could be seen as free advertising by the host company.

Answer 3

No, that would be stealing someone else's intellectual property. That being said, a small number of sales on ebay are unlikely to cause a real problem. (There are loads of counterfeit goods on ebay.) Worse case, you would be sent a letter demanding that you stop selling the items.

Answer 4

Sending used grimy panties in the time of the united states of a/CAN mail is a rechargeable offense on account that's considered organic waste. i'm not asserting you cant or dont because of the fact many do. only understand the end results of what you're doing.

Answer 5

Sure if you get permission from the copyright owner that means paying them for the right to use the copyrighted material.