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Posts: 222Does anyone need a company's permission to make a plush toy of theire main character like skippy adventures in bushtown or coco the cocoa krispies monkey if you were going to keep it for yourself and never sell it.
Hello there,
Yes, I am afraid you do. The company owns the license and - in theory, at least - you must apply for permission to reproduce it in any form, even if it for your own private amusement. I gather that Disney is VERY vigilant in pursuing anyone who infringes one of their copyrights or licenses, for instance.
If you look at it from their point of view, it is understandable: the company in question will have spent an awful lot of money having a product designed, produced and brought to market. Particularly if it is something that then takes off and becomes successful, they will guard their ownership very jealously as it is a valuable income stream for them.
That said, copyrights and licenses (which have a shorter life), do lapse - and it is very unlikely that anyone would come after you for making a one-off plush toy that never leaves your house 
Christine
Posts: 8,574To add to Chris's point;
If you are a good enough artist, you make something for your own amusement that cannot be mistaken for anything else but an illegal copy, what happens when you die?
your pigmonkeybear might be passed down to a greedy gus great great gandchild who will then sell it on ebay for 5 million dollars and voila.....here comes the lawsuit.....and there goes the 5 million dollars that Jr. got from a hapless buyer on ebay who then is out his money and the pigmonkeybear is confiscated in the lawsuit.
Bummer-the truly innocent victim is the buyer who looses it all.
And then his marriage ends because his selfish wife is angry that he lost the pigmonkeybear and feels she should have married someone with more discretionary funds anyway....
BUT this doesn't count buying legitimate patterns from say McCalls for Raggedy Ann or the Dreamcycle Angels....you can make them from your legal pattern and Not sell them but give them away, after which you are not responsible for the break up of the marriage of your great great grandson and his evil wife.
at least in this scenario......
On the other hand.....
Back Road BearsI agree with Christine.
The REALITY is:
it is very unlikely that anyone would come after you for making a one-off plush toy that never leaves your house
Posts: 3,540:crackup: :crackup: Dilu where were you for my boring philosophy classes in college?? 
Posts: 8,574probably cracking wise in my own philosophy courses, which was of my minor, Comparative Religions coming under philosophy.....
if we loose the ability to laugh at our selves and our own quirky systems of thought we never grasp logic.
which, oddly, I loved, and still do.
go figure 
Posts: 222thank you so much if i do get real good ill ask yoram gross for permission i hope they would let me but if they do make plush bushtown skippy which i call s3 for he is the 3rd version of the character i sure hope they would let but cocoa you never ever see that character anywhere anymore it is super rare ill keep emailing kelloggs if they still even have him thank you so much you all are the greatest.
Posts: 222ill never do that to mimzy though that is too pure and cute id rather wait til the right time ti get one hopefully get one i just love that bunny.
Back Road BearsChirs, there have been a few illegal reproductions of Mimzy... I've seen them on eBay. Pretty pathetic..... course, I guess I can say that! 
They didn't sell for much if at all. Folks realize there is no value in homemade recreations. True collectors want the real thing... and for that they were paying BIG bucks! New Line Cinema owns the copyright to Mimzy... they are a huge company, with very good lawyers on their payroll.... and money to spend on going after copycats - no matter what the character.
If you ever want a Mimzy they are sold out as they were limited editions but you can always find the real thing for resale on eBay! 
