Can I use a popular image I drew myself on communications?

So you have your trademark image – let’s say Pacman. And you draw Pacman yourself and put that image on a greeting card that you will send to people for free. It is a non-commercial thing but it bears a likeness to a popular character. Is that copyright infringement?

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  • Yes, you can certainly make unauthorized copies and derivative works and give them away to people. Yes, you can indeed be sued for that because it is copyright infringement. The fact that is is “non-commercial” would mean you’re unlikely to be indicted on criminal charges, but you can be sued for damages.

    Will anyone care? Unlikely. Does it impress anyone that you know how to copy works created by others? No. If I were to receive one of your cards without any reference the required license to reproduce the image on it, I would send it back with a stern lecture on respecting the property rights of others.

  • Technically it is. Since you are just sending greeting cards to friends, I doubt they would ever know. It is so trivial, any type of prosecution is highly unlikely.

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