Copyright

[James1556]

We had an artist draw a picture for us for our website. The picture features half a dozen characters that he has created.

The artist owns the copyright on that picture, and he lives/works in South America.

Now if we wanted to make soft toys (completely different media) based on the characters he drew for us, do we need his permission?

I'm assuming the answer is yes! (Not trying to rip anyone off just trying to find out for certain our responsibilities).

 

[NextPoint]

It depends on the situation. If you were the person who originally created the character and only hired the artist to produce an illustration to your specification, then the only copyright ownership that the artist may have is of the drawing the created - i.e. they could stop you from reselling their image to other people, but not claim ownership of the intellectual property that is the character. This would be the type of situation in which Nintendo may hire people to create artwork of Mario - whatever the details of the contract they have, the intellectual property for the Mario character will remain the property of Nintdendo (unless they gave it away of course).

On the other hand, if the artist created the image based on a character design you didn't provide, then it comes down to what was written in your agreement. If the terms say that they own the intellectual property, then they will probably want you to pay a royalty for whatever you do with their character design.

 

[The Resolver]

On the assumption that what you say ("The picture features half a dozen characters that he has created.The artist owns the copyright on that picture") is correct then the answer is indeed 'yes' .

But are you correct? As Nextpoint says , it should have been covered in your agreement with the artist. If you did not enter into a specific document the agreement will likely have been formed by the emails. But it may not be a black and white situation. For example he may have the copyright but it may be implicit that, whilst you had licence only to use the works on a website, he may be prevented from exploiting the same characters/images elsewhere. After all if you use the images for your brand, you may not want to see them used by others in a different context which might dilute the impact of association with your product in the minds of the public. So if you feel there is a market in the soft toys, and can prevent the artist from exploiting it himself then it seems sensible to enter into a further licensing deal (being careful not to be too optimistic about the prospects!). Let me know if you would like me to check over the documents and email trail to be able to advise more specifically.

Which country is he in? If Argentina I have professional contacts in that country