@waterart
You could drag/drop a photo of the plushie onto google images. That might give you a clue as to what company produced it.
Here's all I can offer as an answer to your fair use question:
<https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/appropriating-copyrighted-works-when-is-it-legal>
Fair use exception
One exception to copyright is fair use. Several types of fair use allow an artist to use another's copyrighted work. One common example is parody. Weird Al Yankovic has based his career on taking well-known songs and creating parodies, his own funny versions of the songs. This is one example of fair use. Other examples include news reporting, research, and criticism in which part of the original work is repeated. Appropriation art can also sometimes be considered fair use.
Courts have laid out four things to consider when determining whether a use falls under the fair use exception:
1. Commercial use. Courts consider whether the appropriation of the artwork creates a commercial benefit for the new artist. It's one thing to take a piece of art and alter it and hang it in your own home and another thing to appropriate it and then sell it for millions of dollars.
2. Nature of the work. Courts consider the nature of the new work. In the case of appropriation art, the new work is generally another piece of art.
3. Amount of use. The amount of the original art that is used in the appropriation piece is also considered. If an artist took an existing photograph, cut out a section, and used it in their own new work, the amount of use is small. However, if a 20-square-foot photograph is used as the basis for a piece of art in which it is painted over, most or all of the work is used.
4. Effect on the market. This factor looks at how the new use of the work affects the original work's market value. If the new work is truly transformative, it should have little or no impact on the original work's value. For example, if an artist makes T-shirts with her own designs, then a second artist takes those T-shirts and adds sequins in a few places, the sale of the sequined shirts will likely impact the sale of the original shirts because it is not transformative. This is the most important factor to consider when evaluating appropriation art.
Steps for appropriation artists
If you are an artist who wishes to appropriate someone else's art into your own work, the first thing to do is reach out to the artist and ask permission. The artist may grant you permission or may be willing to license the work to you for a small fee. This can help you avoid any legal challenges.
