Making custom plushes for profit?

[Karebearcntdwn]

I was searching on ebay and have found quite a few handmade mlp plushies. Some have sold for big bucks and others are pretty reasonably priced, but is it legal? My husband was debating with me on the matter saying they need to have hasbros consent to make currently trademarked items and sell them for a profit. I am no lawyer so I have no clue if he's right or not, but, with the amount of customs I have seen on varying sites he can't be right... could he? I mean that would be a lot of people to send C&D orders to. Lol Any thoughts on the matter? I would love to hear if anyone has come under fire by Hasbrouck or anyone you have purchased from. Thank you in advance. 

[Majesty]

Not sure, but people here make customs of hasbro ponies, even if it's a G1 to G3 or to G4, etc. and I'm sure the customizers don't ask Hasbro for their permission.  I can see why you would wonder, it is an interesting question.  Hasbro lost the rights to a lot of ponies so I can't see them giving permission for something they don't own anymore.  I hope someone here can answer your question though.

[Baby Sugarberry]

If Hasbro becomes aware of someone using their IP for profit, yes, they are legally required to send a C&D otherwise they could be seen as failing to protect their intellectual property.  Most companies operate under a 'don't look, don't care' for small time profiteers, because it isn't worth their time to send Legal beating down doors for less money than the lawyers cost and it's bad PR.  That doesn't make it any less illegal, though.

Some of the bigger names /have/ gotten C&D legal papers from Hasbro, and individual companies differ on how stringently they hunt down this kind of theft.  Profit is a big deciding factor - they are never going to go after some parent sewing a pony plush for their kid (or themselves), but when you start selling your work, then you're potentially in trouble.

[Wardah]

Even when Hasbro has done something about it it's generally just a "you can't do this anymore or we will sue you" letter.

Tho about the "reasonably priced" comment some of these plush makers put a lot of time and effort into their work. While some do go for unreasonable amounts, what is actually reasonable depends on how much time they put into it because even artists deserve a fair wage.

[LadyMoondancer]

The long and short of it is Hasbro doesn't care about people making plushies of their properties, so IMO it doesn't really matter.  I mean, maybe it will matter someday in the future if Hasbro changes their tune, but custom plush MLPs and Transformers have been around forever.  There's even an actual company that makes third-party MLP FIM plushies (usually of obscure show characters) and as far as I know even they haven't received a "cease & desist."

The only time I've heard of Hasbro fussing is when they contacted a plushie maker on DeviantArt.  And even then they didn't tell her to stop making plushies, they told her to stop listing her prices for them. Not to stop SELLING them.  But to stop advertising the prices. (I don't know why??)

[sd_dreamcrystal]

There's even an actual company that makes third-party MLP FIM plushies (usually of obscure show characters) and as far as I know even they haven't received a "cease & desist."

Isn't that company outside the US though?

[LadyMoondancer]

Being located in a different country could make it more difficult for Hasbro to prosecute, but it would be easy for them to go after people distributing things on American sites and eBay.

But they don't even go after the third party Transformers--whoops, transforming robots which are DEFINITELY not Transformers -- that are sold by large online distributors like Big Bad Toystore and even at Hasbro's own conventions. 

I'm not talking about stolen molds and poor quality bootlegs either;  there are a bunch of companies catering specificially to hardcore Transformers collectors with high quality, expensive robots that are super show accurate (to the G1 Transformers cartoon, usually).  The creators do their own molds, they aren't stealing molds from Hasbro, but as far as intellectual property rights go?  Well, here are a couple examples:

Hasbro's character "Blaster" and his cassette "Rewind":

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Third party "Transistor" and his cassette "HiFi":

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Hasbro's "Mirage".

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Third party "Invisible":

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Sidenote:  in the Transformers cartoon Mirage could turn invisible.

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Hasbro's Skywarp, Starscream, and Thundercracker. (Hasbro has made TONS of versions of them over the years.  Very popular characters.)

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Third party Sky-Wind, Star-Burst, and Thunder-Wrath:

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I mean, even the NAMES, you know?


Anyway . . . yeah.  These aren't even obscure or "abandoned" characters;  heck, Rewind is one of the main cast members in the current IDW book and Starscream is . . . Starscream.  One of the most long-enduring, most popular, most backstabby Transformers characters of all time.  (There's a different third-party version of him named Traitor.)

So why doesn't Hasbro do anything about these?  I'm sure they could, legally.  But, like I said, I don't think they care.  I think their philosophy is "if we are not interested in filling this niche, why not let someone else do it?"  And I think that also applies to My Little Pony. 

And that's fine with me.  I love the third party Transformers stuff.  (Don't own any yet, but I've been seriously considering picking up Kaon.  But then again, he's like $85, eek.)  I'd love to see third-party G1 MLP toys someday.

[Mirnyj]

I'm going to bump this one over to the arts and crafts corral.

[ZennaBug]

I think that technically, any time someone reproduces a Hasbro pony (whether it be fan art, plashes, customs, or any other form) for profit, it is against their copyright.  But it's my impression that they don't usually actually come after people unless they're really cranking out the products or making insane amounts of money.