Costume legality questions

[SwedishNinja]

Hey all,

Really random question here but I was wondering what the law is on what we can do with our finished costumes.

Im not selling it or anything but I was looking around the web and saw that Character parties were pretty popular in the area. I wanted to see if I needed anything to provide a service for like a birthday party or something like that, Im in the middle of planing my wedding and closing on a house and just wanted to extra cash for the wedding. Sadly enough I know how to make balloon animals and my plan was to market myself as a balloon animal maker who just so happens to wear my MC costume or my Storm Trooper costume.
thread here

Thanks all for any/all help!

Swedish Ninja

 

[sonic sod]

advertise yourself on ebay

 

[SwedishNinja]

Pics here (edit would spin and timeout) http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/29286-Adventures-of-MC-and-ST-Pic-Heavy

 

[ventrue]

Basic rule of thumb is that you can't make any profit with it. That includes both selling the thing itself and selling services related to it (like having Master Chief deliver a birthday present in a Warthog for 300 bucks an hour).

 

[Agent Arizona]

Basic rule of thumb is that you can't make any profit with it. That includes both selling the thing itself and selling services related to it.

That was my understanding too. At least with the halo armor. The stoormtrooper might be different but i would check with the 501st just to be safe. It could be different because they have WAY more suits out there.

 

[TD2253]

It is the same for the Stormtrooper costume, you can get a C&D from George Lucas if he finds out.

 

[rancor1]

That would be mighty bombad if that happen.

 

[darknemisis]

Yeah my 501st division can only do charity work....no fees of any kind

 

[dung0beetle]

Charity only. You must get written permission from the owner of the likeness for paid gigs. Accepting tips is ok though, but requiring tips is not. I would like to see a MasterChief mugshot though.

 

[Jester1014]

So What if somebody saw your work while you were showing others, or at a con, they offered you a commission to build them a suit specific Prop. Is that ok?

 

[SwedishNinja]

haha, yeah i figured as much... thanks for the info, I was thinking that I charged for doing something like making balloon animals or something random like that and then wear the costume on the side but from the sounds of it its all bad news bears.

 

[CoolC]

So What if somebody saw your work while you were showing others, or at a con, they offered you a commission to build them a suit specific Prop. Is that ok?

I think this is a tricky question. I don't think it is illegal provided that:

1. You are not mass producing the suits.
2. You don't sell your armor with Bungie, Halo, or Microsoft branding.
3. You don't claim your products are from any of the companies stated above.
4. You charge for the materials and the work performed - no profit was made.

Imagine someone pays you for your work to reproduce a paint that looks similar to Picasso's artwork. Your work may have similarities as long as they don't look like an exact replica (which could be perceived as copyright). I'm sure the estate of Picasso will not pursue C&D.

 

[ventrue]

Imagine someone pays you for your work to reproduce a paint that looks similar to Picasso's artwork.

I think the age of Picasso's works may add an unexpected spin to that example

 

[CoolC]

I think the age of Picasso's works may add an unexpected spin to that example

Just an example of copyright materials. You could take out Picasso and fill in whatever you want. For the record, I think Picasso's works are crap. I think my 6 year old paints better than him.