Yes making yourself a replica is fine but selling it well thats something else. I have made a cookie monster because C is for cookie and thats good enough for me!

Can you get sued for making a puppet that is a likeness of someone?

That would be a funny court case; David Tennant vs. Puppet David Tennant

Actualy I don't think so. Now I could get in trouble if I made the exact replica of him. But a likeness is ok.

Ah, I see - so many grey areas...

?

I really don't see where the 'grey area' is.  If it's a good enough copy that someone wants to buy it, then it's in violation of the copyright.

Just to clarify the "grey area"... Think about the millions of black velvet paintings of Elvis that are for sale out there.  I think that is what Na was thinking about. A person can't really get in trouble for creating art that is based on an established person, place or thing.  A puppet is a piece of art.  People make look alike puppets all the time and even have them in shows.

You can get in trouble for reproducing established copyrighted material/art.  Disney characters (includes the Muppets now) are all copyrighted. 

Yes, I was referring to the grey areas of making lookalikes.

On a side note, a car manufacturer recently sued a car collectors group because they took pictures of the cars they own and put them in their collectors newsletter; without permission from the manufacturer. The manufacturer is now saying that because they own copyright on the design of the car, the people who own cars need to get permission before publishing photos of them!

That seems extreme to me! Like there must have been another reason they wanted to suit them and that was the only technicality they could get them on.

Yeah, it's just a little over the top. Can't remember the full details, but I'm sure if you Google'd it, there would be some news articles about it.