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This is a matter of both principle and risk, and I tend to agree with rip-off over frob here (though they're both right, of course).

If you're making a genuine parody, and really making obvious jokes about this stuff (never "playing it straight"), that is supposed to be protected under fair-use. It is a fine line, though- for example Penny Arcade's "American Mcgee's Strawberry Shortcake"- a violation because it was parodying American Mcgee (OK) but using Strawberry Shortcake to do it (Arguably not OK, since Strawberry Shortcake wasn't the real subject of the parody). Due to complications like this, you should at least study the law if you don't consult a lawyer. Particularly important is case law to establish precedent for your use within the jurisdiction in which that the lawsuit would occur- courts usually follow precedent (unless the issue is political and the judges are corrupt, as in certain cases); if you can show an example of another suit where somebody did more or less the same thing you're doing and the court ruled in their favor, you'll be fairly safe.

Yes, they could still sue you, but a company you've never heard of could also sue you for infringing IP you've never seen before because you accidentally created a character or item that (by pure dumb luck) looked kind of like something they made ten years ago.

On principle, the argument could be made that we shouldn't kowtow to copyright holders and give up rights that we should legitimately have, and I tend to agree.

But the reality is that copyright holders push around weight frequently, and bully smaller companies (and even media) into licensing their property or not publishing negative critical articles about it for threat of lawsuits. Indeed, copyright itself, despite the intention of limitations, does inhibit freedom of speech by vice of mere legal bullying. You should have some protection in case the feces hits the flabellum.


Whether you make a parody, or you accidentally make something that resembles another, either could cost you extremely large amounts of money, and both have legitimate defenses. Such is the nature of our legal system to favor the absurdly rich.

Large companies, for their part, frequently violate copyright and effectively ignore or dismiss most suits against them, or they settle out of court in the way of, "We will make sure that this lawsuit will be so expensive it will bankrupt you, and you'll never see a penny. Or, you can have this shiny nickel now, and we won't break your kneecaps."

Law is supposed to be fair, but unfortunately it doesn't even approach fairness on the mean. You should be safe... but you aren't.

But there is a legal mechanism that many people seem to have missed that can keep you out of the poor house if your company makes a mistake (or doesn't make a mistake, but gets punished for it anyway): Incorporate.

Form a legal entity for your business. Yes, you may pay more tax on capital gains, but it's a form of insurance. Your business could go bottom up, but there are some safeguards there to keep you from losing the shirt off your back. Yeah, there are always ways to get in trouble, but if you're serious about doing this and making money, it's a smart bit of insurance that distances you a little from financial threats. Criminal culpability still exists, but it is much less likely to threaten you due to the differences of burden of proof (innocent until proven guilty, instead of the preponderance of evidence).

The only other real defense is to simply have no assets to lose.

Getting insurance might not be a bad idea either, but for a small project that's probably going to be prohibitively expensive.

I hope that helps!