Anthony DiPierro wrote:
When one wants to write free text about Darth Vader, one reads other (usually proprietary) writings and then summarizes them in one's own words. Likewise, when one wants to draw a free image of Darth Vader shouldn't one view other (usually proprietary) images and then summarize them with one's own artwork?
If that were true, then one could draw original comic strips or animated television cartoons featuring Star Wars characters without needing any kind of license or permission from anybody. But a quick Googling for ' movie merchandising copyright ' turns up sites like http://www.marklitwak.com/articles/general/movie_merchandising.html , in which Mark Litwak, Esq. generously offers a sample merchandising license, wherein we read
"... Licensor grants to Licensee [...] the exclusive right, license and privilege to utilize the names, characters, artists' portrayal of characters, likenesses and visual representations as included in Picture ..."
and so forth. In other words, the pros at this have already figured out all the tricky angles. :-)
Stan