From their terms and conditions:

"All Project Puppet (herein also referred to as "we", "our", "our's") products such as patterns, instructions, whether in print or electronic format, materials and other products, as well as all content included on ProjectPuppet.com, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons, images, audio clips, digital downloads, data compilations, and software, hereinafter referred to as "Project Puppet Products" and "Products", are the property of Project Puppet and protected by United States and international copyright laws. The compilation of all content on ProjectPuppet.com is the exclusive property of Project Puppet and protected by United States and international copyright laws. All software used on or provided by ProjectPuppet.com is the property of Project Puppet or its software suppliers and protected by United States and international copyright laws. Any graphics not owned by Project Puppet that appear on ProjectPuppet.com, or in print form, are the property of their respective owners, and protected under United States and international copyright laws, and are used in connection with such laws."

and

"Project Puppet grants you a limited license to access and make personal use of its Products and ProjectPuppet.com. This license does not include any resale or commercial use of any Project Puppet Products such as patterns, instructions, materials and other products. Project Puppet Products provided for you are intended for your personal use only, and are not for resale or commercial use. This license does not authorize the purchasing of Project Puppet products for use in mass production of puppets, whether for free distribution or commercial gain. This license also does not include the downloading (other than page caching) or modification of ProjectPuppet.com, or any portion of it, except with express written consent of Project Puppet. This license does not include any derivative use of any Project Puppet products, ProjectPuppet.com or its contents, and any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools in regards to ProjectPuppet.com. ProjectPuppet.com may not be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, visited, or otherwise exploited, in whole or in part, for any commercial purpose without express written consent of Project Puppet. You may not frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including images, text, page layout, or form) of ProjectPuppet.com without express written consent. You may not use any meta tags or any other "hidden text" utilizing Project Puppet's name or trademarks without the express written consent of Project Puppet. Any unauthorized use terminates the permission or license granted by Project Puppet. Project Puppet must first authorize any creation of a hyperlink to the home page of ProjectPuppet.com by express written permission. Project Puppet may grant such hyperlink so long as the link does not portray Project Puppet, or its products in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter. You may not use any Project Puppet logo or other proprietary graphic or trademark as part of the link without express written permission."

... Short answer: no.

Why not try making your own puppets and create a pattern as you go? That's what I've been doing, and it's not at all hard to do.

Na, the FAQ section contradicts the above information you provided. I'm thinking that the terms and conditions were meant for the patterns and not necessarily for the puppets made from the patterns.  Hmmm, it SHOULD be more clear shouldn't it?

Thanks for pointing that out!
-Michele

PS: Just thought I'd come back and add the actual text from the FAQ section:

Can I use my finished puppet for commercial profit?
The answer is ABSOLUTELY! We hope you do! Our pattern and instruction kits are protected by copyright laws, which means they cannot legally be copied and distributed without written permission from Project Puppet. These laws apply to the actual pattern sheet and instructions included in your kit (as well as our characters represented on the website). Your finished puppet characters, however, are yours! You may sell your Project Puppet based characters, use them in your own puppet performances, for television or film, or in any way you see fit. We would love to hear your success stories and be able to share those stories with future Project Puppet customers.

To see it for yourself: http://www.projectpuppet.com/-strse-template/faq/Page.bok#5

 

Hey I just sent a message to Project puppet. I'm sure they can clear all this up and get us all on the same page for what you can and can't do with their pattern.

Ummm... no it doesn't actually.

What they're saying in the FAQ section (the text that you provided I oddly couldn't find) is that you can use the *puppet* without worrying about copyright (cause then you'd have to pay performance rights, which is why they mention you can use it for commercial reasons...), but that the patterns themselves *are* copyrighted and *wouldn't* be able to be used for commercial reasons.. because then they'd lose money and customers. In which case, you can make a puppet, you can sell that puppet, you can perform with it, but you can't then resell the patterns for it.

We're not talking about selling the puppet, but selling a modified version of the patterns; which I'm sure the people at PP wouldn't like.

Can I use my finished puppet for commercial profit?
The answer is ABSOLUTELY! We hope you do! Our pattern and instruction kits are protected by copyright laws, which means they cannot legally be copied and distributed without written permission from Project Puppet. These laws apply to the actual pattern sheet and instructions included in your kit (as well as our characters represented on the website). Your finished puppet characters, however, are yours! You may sell your Project Puppet based characters, use them in your own puppet performances, for television or film, or in any way you see fit. We would love to hear your success stories and be able to share those stories with future Project Puppet customers.

To see it for yourself: http://www.projectpuppet.com/-strse-template/faq/Page.bok#5

From what I'm understanding from the Project Puppet's FAQ column is that one can use the patterns to make puppets and sell them. You can not sell the patterns or instruction kits because of copyright laws.  So if someone made a puppet form one of Project Puppets pattern, their own charcater, not one of Project Puppet's, then they can sell them and not be violating any copyright laws.  I posted a link above in my first reply to their FAQ page and stated where to go.  My Avatar was made from a PP pattern, their pattern my charcater so if I decide to sell it I will not be violating any copyright laws.


Na, I just read your post again and copied what you wrote below.  I believe that what the actual question was referring to just selling puppets made.  I don't believe giric thren was talking about modifying and reselling the pattern.

"In which case, you can make a puppet, you can sell that puppet, you can perform with it, but you can't then resell the patterns for it."

yes, the question was about the puppets. I do not want to resell the patterns.

I have purchased the book and the dvd so when ai get them and check it out I'll let you know
Brenda

Sorry, I misunderstood.

thats OK, Thanks for your input

Hi everybody,

Just wanted to stop in and clear things up a bit about the Project Puppet patterns' terms of use. (I hate all this legal stuff.)

I really can't explain it any better than what's stated in the FAQ section of the website here. The answer is yes, you can sell, perform, film, and use the puppet or puppets you build with the Project Puppet patterns in any way you wish. Project Puppet based puppets are being used all over in many many different ways. Gaston Morineau uses the Project Puppet patterns extensively in his live shows and video shorts. Little's Creatures uses the patterns to make custom characters for commissions and in their live performances. Puppet Planet, Nojoys Sideshow, Transylvania Television, Hoggworks, and Puppetechnics, all use the patterns to build puppet characters for commercial use, just to name a few. Project Puppet based characters also appear on children's television programming in Spain and Germany. So the answer to whether or not you can use puppets built from the Project Puppet patterns for commercial use is absolutely YES.

The restrictions boil down to two things,

1. Copying and reselling the printed patterns and instructions themselves. A while back we were alerted that someone was selling the PDF version of the Glorified Sock Puppet Pattern on eBay. The seller was even using pictures of puppets from the Project Puppet gallery in the listings. This is clearly against copyright laws and the seller was reported and shut down by eBay.

2. Mass production of puppets based on the Project Puppet patterns. This just prevents an individual or company from buying one of the patterns, and using the pattern to produce thousands of puppets in an overseas factory somewhere for general retail sale. It's only reasonable that some licensing agreement be reach before such a large-scale production could proceed.

And that's it! It's really simple and reasonable - maybe that's why it gets confusing.

One of the reasons we started Project Puppet in the first place was to provide instruction and freedom that other companies producing puppet building instruction were not. The Foam Book is a great book, but no actual concrete pattern is included. It takes a more free form approach to puppet building. Armslength Productions had a very excellent video (along with a printed pattern) out at the time. However, it was quite expensive and the puppets that you made from the provided patterns could not be used in any type of media. The Armslength patterns were for instructional purposes only. Project Puppet was started to provide a solid foundation in puppet building, beginning with an actual pattern, and to provide the freedom to do as you please with the puppets you build.

THANKS for clearing everything up!  Now I am not afraid to get started either!!