Question from Connie

Hello Mr. Todd McCaffrey, I wanted to ask if I did artwork of Pern characters and dragons, but my interpretation, and to be able to sell it as Pern merchandise with copyrights, do I go through Anne McCaffreys’ estate aka you, for permission? Do I go through Warner Bros too? I just want to make sure it is all legal, and accepted, before I do anything…I realize that you/the estate would get some profit, but I have no idea if my dragons are different from Warner Bros, how that would work? Please let me know, and thank you Todd, love the dragon books you did!

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Dear Connie,

Firstly, I’m not one of the Executors of Mum’s estate. Anything I say is purely my own conjecture and has no bearing on the Estate.

I suspect, however, that you will not be able to get copyright for your artwork. I imagine that Warner Brothers would prefer wait until they have their own imagery and license that instead.

I haven’t the foggiest notion of how to go about getting in touch with Warner Brothers on this issue. I do suspect that, as they haven’t started actually filming, they’re probably not interested in worrying about merchandizing rights at this time.

Cheers,

Todd

P.S.: I suspect your spell-checker did you a disservice; when I got your original my name was mis-spelled: ‘McCaffery.’ The e & r should be reversed. As I like to say, we’re “free” (‘frey’) not “furry” (‘fery’).