Copyright Winnie the Pooh

[Svetlana]

I see Winnie the Pooh invitation designs on the site. I want to draw Winnie the Pooh and use it to create children's invitations. Is this a copyright infringement?

[PenguinPower]

It’s complicated… the original Pooh has passed into the public domain, but that’s only as pertains to copyright. Trademarks are handled differently and many Pooh related things will still be off limits. This article explains it pretty extensively and will probably make your head spin. 

Pooh law blog post  

[LMGildersleeve · Accepted solution]

In simple terms... just avoid Winnie the Pooh to avoid any problems.

[idraw]

@Svetlana 
If you read the linked article, there are trademark issues involved, which is where things get complicated. Best to avoid using Winnie thePooh, lawyers are expensive.

[PenguinPower]

BTW - nearly all of the Pooh merchandize that is in the marketplace right now is posted by Disney - who currently owns the rights to the Pooh trademarks and remaining Pooh copyrights ( example - Tigger is still under copyright presently).

There's a handful not posted by them and is either Milne quotes with no images or is original style Pooh and may be safe. At least one violates a trademark mentioned in the article and just hasn't been noticed yet..