Trademark Issues: Can You Make & Sell Dr. Seuss Themed Products?

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With Christmas coming, I know that so many craft businesses are currently working on holiday products. Today is a great day to talk about making handmade products related to Dr. Seuss and his characters; like the Grinch, the Lorax, Cindy Lou Who, Thing One and Thing Two, Sam-I-Am, and many more.

Can You Make and Sell Dr. Seuss Products?

Unfortunately, Dr. Seuss designs and quotes are not in the public domain and cannot be used on products for sale without written permission from Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Since Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) passed away in 1991, all licensing agreements are handled though Random House.

Licensing Information

I emailed Random House for information about the possibility of at home craft businesses obtaining a license to legally use Dr. Seuss quotes and images in products. I immediately received a generic response that included this statement:

“Please know that Dr. Seuss text, characters, and images are protected by copyright and trademark law and may not be used without the prior written consent of Dr. Seuss Enterprises.”

I also received an email back a few hours later from Jenna Marson, Licensing & Marketing Coordinator, that basically stated that Dr. Seuss Enterprises was not currently offering licenses and “due to contractual restrictions with our current licensees who produce items in these categories” they could not discuss requirements to get a license.

In response to Jenna, I asked if Dr. Seuss Enterprises ever offered licenses to small or home based businesses and what the hypothetical requirements would be. My email went unanswered.

If you’d like to reach out to Random House for information on licensing Dr. Seuss properties for your Silhouette or Cricut small business, reach them through this page.

I will continue to update this post if I receive additional information from Random House/Dr. Seuss Enterprises. In the meantime, know that selling handmade Dr. Seuss themed products without a licensing deal is an infringement and is illegal.

Note: All images used in the featured image for this article were downloaded from Etsy. This is within copyright guidelines because this post is considered educational material.