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Even Disney’s Lawyers Can’t Stop an Army of Bootleg Baby Yodas
All over Etsy they are
When Disney intentionally delayed making Baby Yoda merchandise in order to keep the character’s existence a secret, artists and opportunists filled the gap with crochet plushies, T-shirts, Christmas ornaments, and self-referential coffee mugs. When Disney finally came out with official Baby Yoda swag, it was widely criticized for looking rushed, because, well, it was. But if you’re unhappy with what the Mouse has to offer, there are plenty of online stores with every kind of Baby Yoda merchandise you could want, just in time for the holidays.
Some brands have embraced this sort of fan art. TeePublic, which sells shirts featuring user-submitted designs, has a fan art partner program that allows independent artists to sell fan art without violating copyright on select partnership brands. Other companies, like video game maker EA, offer fan kits that help artists create sanctioned artwork without stepping on their business interests. As Glynn S. Lunney Jr., a law professor at Texas A&M University, explains, sometimes it’s in a company’s best interest not to enforce copyright law to the letter. “Because it’s an avid fan base that’s doing it and they don’t want to alienate their fans, they choose not to enforce the full scope of both copyright and trademark rights,” he tells…
