Disney Cricut and copyright laws - Avoid Copyright Problems (2024)

• Shawn Mosch
• March 25, 2021
• 13 Comments

If you know me you know that there are a couple of things I love to talk about, including Disney and crafting. Today I want to talk to you specifically about copyright laws in relationship to our Disney Cricut crafts. Whether you craft as a hobby or if you are crafting as a part of a small business, there are some basic rules you should know.

By the way, this post contains Affiliate Links to companies I have partnered with, such as Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. You can think of affiliate links like tipping your waitress, only it does not cost you anything extra! Thank you for shopping with my links!

Basic Copyright and Trademark Information

First off, I am not a lawyer. I am the first person to admit that most of that legal talk goes right over my head. That is why I reached out to Mariam Tsaturyan, who is a Trademark and Business Attorney atMariam at Law. You can read that article HERE. This will help you begin to understand what images you can and cannot use in your crafting projects.

Now let’s look specifically at Disney Cricut crafting images and fonts.

Disney Cricut Images and Fonts

When you sign up and create a Cricut Design Space account, there is a bit of legal information that you agree to. In detail that can be found at the Cricut Legal Page by clicking HERE. A portion of that agreement gives crafters permission to use all Disney Cricut images and fonts that they purchase from Cricut for personal use. This means that you can make a projects like the ones in the images below. These are all projects that I created for personal use.

You can see that I have created a lot of cards with my Disney Cricut images that I have purchased over the years. To go to each one of these specific tutorials you can either click on the text within the photo or use these links.

• Donald Duck Larger than Mat Project
• Donald Duck Card
• Minnie Mouse Card
• Olaf in Summer
• Squirt Card
• Mr. Incredible Card

Personal Use versus Commercial Use

As I already stated, the Cricut User Agreement gives me permission to use the images and fonts, including Disney Cricut images and fonts that I have purchased for personal use. This means I can use them for making cards, shirts, decorations or anything else for myself. I could even make these items for friends and family if I am giving them as a gift.

So yes, I can make my daughter a Donald Duck shirt for a birthday gift. If I were to accept any sort of monetary payment or reimbursem*nt for these gifts, that is when it would then be considered commercial use. Disney could then come after me for copyright infringement.

Legally Selling Cricut Items

Under the Cricut User Agreement there is a section called the Angel Policy. There is even a Frequently Asked Questions portion to the Angel Policy section that specifically addresses selling items you create with your Cricut.

The Angel Policy authorizes you to sell up to 10,000 completed projects annually (i.e., cards, scrapbook pages, finished cakes), using cuts made with Cricut products. It does not, however, authorize you to produce and sell individual, unassembled cuts using Cricut products (i.e., mass producing individually-cut letters or shapes to re-sell) nor to produce and sell items that incorporate licensed content.

Cricut

So, in non-legal speak, you could make and sell 10,000 items in one calendar year with Cricut images before you would be breaking the Cricut Angel Policy. Once you are making and selling over 10,000 items that is considered to be mass production and that is not allowed under the Angel Policy.

But wait! There are Disney Cricut images and font that I can buy from Cricut. Does this same Angel Policy apply to those? The answer is no. Let’s dive into that in the next section. The only way to legally sell anything with a Disney image on it is to request permission directly from Disney. You can do that HERE.

Details about Disney Cricut images and fonts

The use of Disney images is covered in the Cricut Angel Policy Frequently Asked Questions section.

The Angel Policy does not authorize you to produce or sell individual items that incorporate licensed content from major licensors including Walt Disney Company, Sesame, Hello Kitty, Warner Bros, Martha Stewart, Kirstie Allsopp, Entertainment One UK Limited, Nickelodeon, and the Boy Scouts of America.

All images that are part of theCricut Image Library Subscriptionare covered by the Angel Policy. Other images that are not part of your Cricut Image Library Subscription may be licensed content that is subject to Third Party Rights Restrictions.

Cricut

The Cricut Image Library Subscription that is mentioned is called Cricut Access. When you are in Design Space these are the images and fonts that have the small green a in the corner of the preview are the ones that are included under the Access membership. Images by Disney are not included in this, so they are not included in the Angel Policy.

Legally Selling Disney Disney Items

So now it is clear that you cannot legally sell anything Disney related with the images you purchase through Cricut. If you read my past article on Copyright Law, you would also know that you cannot sell anything Disney related with images you find online and upload to Design Space since you do not own those images. You also cannot sell anything with a Disney svg that you downloaded or purchased even if that purchase included a commercial license with it, since the only person that can legally grant a Disney commercial license is the Walt Disney Company.

Sorry, that person selling Disney svg files on Etsy does not have the power to grant you a commercial license. So what can you do?

First, if you want to sell anything with a Disney image or font on it, contact the Walt Disney Company and read their licensing page. They even have a form you can fill out to get the process started on legally obtaining a license from them.

Do Your Research

So you might ask yourself, is there anything that I can legally craft and sell that is a Disney item. I know we have all been on sites like Etsy and seen items for sale. Before you go down that path, do your research as to what you can and cannot sell by reading the Etsy Seller’s Guide to Copyright Infringement. Consult a lawyer who specializes in copyright law. Obtain a license from the Walt Disney Company directly. Do not just start selling Disney items and hope you will not get caught. The internet is filled with stories of people who have been sued by Disney.

Below are some links to copyright information and resources for you.