Casting add on toy parts.

[Joboykin]

My 4 year old has a toy that was missing a small piece that is no longer produced and is very expensive to buy. I made the piece (same size and color but different details -- screen, buttons, not undercut on back, etc)). A friend asked if I would copy it for his kids toy (hence my interest in resin casting). Seems there a demand for them. Can I reproduce the piece and sell on eBay? It's a Disney toy. I would clearly say it's an aftermarket add on. What should I know before proceeding? Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks,
JB.

[mangozac]

Hi JB, welcome to RA!

Unfortunately none of us here are lawyers so we can't give you any formal advice. Making the master piece yourself helps, but if you'd made it to be a pretty faithful copy of the original you'd still likely be infringing copyright. Ultimately though I would expect if worst comes to worst you get told to stop selling them, most likely through a Disney lawyer telling ebay to pull your action. There would be absolutely no point in them taking you to court over it.

I'd give it a go.

[Joboykin]

So a cease and desist letter may be my worst case.
.. I may alter it more just to be sure I'm not 'copying'. It's a fun piece of the toy and missing from so many of them. Would a different color or diff size make me less likely to draw attention?

[mangozac]

I'm sorry I missed the fact that you said that the buttons, etc. were different in your first post (I thought you said they were copied to be the same)! In that case I'm sure you'll be fine! Call it an aftermarket add-on if you like. I wouldn't worry about the colour too much.

[Joboykin]

Excellent. Thanks! What about the connection point. Anything to worry about there. It's kind of specific but not completely so. Hard to describe. Mounts to a ball on a post...

[mangozac]

That sounds pretty generic - there would certainly be nothing copyrightable or patented about it.

[Joboykin]

Great. I'm going to go for it. I'll post my pics when I'm done. Thank you very much for the input!

[mangozac]

No problem! It will be great if you do share some pics!