Disney/Incredibles School Tutoring Program and Copyright

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  • Hi Everyone!

    I don't even know where to begin to help one of my teachers. My first instinct is to tell her to run away from all things Disney, but perhaps you all have more knowledge than I do. Here is her question:

    My project revolves around a tutoring program and my goal is to get all to understand the “Incredible” positives that teachers, peer tutors, and students accrue through this program. I have chosen The Incredibles ® as my theme for this project. I will purchase licensed costumes and will have staff members wear these costumes and will photograph them. I will then use the photos to create vinyl enlargements to be placed on my board. Additionally, I will use a photo of all three costumed characters to place on the background of a flyer to be handed out to the principals during my presentation.

    My questions are as follows:

    This project is for educational purposes and I do not plan to profit from any of these projects.

    -Will I infringe on any copyrights by using the photos of costumed staff members wearing licensed costumes in my -project-both on the trifold board or on the flyer?

    -Do I have to give credit to the parent company of The Incredibles ® on either of these items?

    -The Incredibles ® has a very stylized logo-an ‘i’ with a circle around it. Am I able to use this logo, aside from the logo on the costumes, on any of my items?

    -If it is permissible to use these photos (and possibly the logo), can I also use them on educational flyers/posters that will be used to let the student population know about the tutoring program?

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    Thanks for any info you can share with me! 

    Kristen

  • Hi Kristen,

    Where there are some copyright considerations in the scenarios you've outlined here I think you actually need to give greater consideration to the trademark issues involved with the reuse of the Incredibles characters and logos for this project. The United States Patent and Trademark Office provides information on trademarks that may be helpful in answering your questions: https://www.uspto.gov/trademarks-getting-started/trademark-basics.

  • The purchased licensed costumes may include paperwork that describes how the costumes may be used.

    Just a thought!

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