Appellate Practice Attorney serving New York, NY
If you want to use Peanuts characters in any commercial venture, you have to pay the owner of those rights, either to purchase the rights outright, or more likely to license the rights for a period of time. Like other owners of the rights to famous characters (e.g. Spider Man, Dora the Explorer, etc.), I've no doubt that the owners of the Peanuts rights licene the rights to use the Peanuts characters in a variety of ways. For example, one manufacturer may pay (probably a guarantied minimum against a percentage of royalties) for the exclusive right to use Peanuts characters on lunch boxes sold in the U.S., another for the rights to use them on lunch boxes sold in Europe, while another may contract for the exclusive rights to use Peanuts characters on t-shirts, and another for exclusive rights to Peanuts greeting cards. Assuming that the rights owners have not already licensed the rights to use Peanuts characters on embroidery designs, you may be able to purchase or license such rights, but it will be expensive. Licensing of characters is big business.
Answered on Aug 12th, 2013 at 11:35 AM