Pokémon in a personalised children's book? | MyOwnChildbook

Many parents ask whether a personalised children’s book can show their child playing with Pikachu, joining Elsa on an adventure, or teaming up with the Paw Patrol. It is a natural question, because children adore these characters. The legal answer, however, is clear cut and often surprises parents. Here we explain what copyright law says about beloved characters, and which legal alternatives do exist.

Characters are protected by copyright

Pokémon, Frozen, Bluey, Spider-Man, Peppa Pig and other well-known characters are legally protected works. Under English copyright law (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988), the creator of an original work holds the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute it. This protection covers visual characters, their names and their recognisable appearance.

Internationally, the framework comes from the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works of 1886, with 181 member countries (WIPO). The EU Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive (2019/790) extends this protection further into the online sphere. The United States operates under broadly similar rules through the Copyright Act 1976 as amended.

Protection in most jurisdictions lasts 70 years after the creator’s death. For companies such as Disney or The Pokémon Company, characters typically count as works made for hire, with comparable long terms. The original 1928 version of Mickey Mouse only entered the US public domain in January 2024. Pokémon dates from 1996 and remains protected for decades to come.

Child with paint-covered hands symbolising original creativity

What does “protected” actually mean?

Protected means: no one may use a character commercially without the rights-holder’s permission. That covers:

Drawing the character, or commissioning a drawing of it
Using the name or appearance in a product
Selling anything that features the character
Publishing an image of it online

Unlike the US, European copyright law has no broad “fair use” doctrine. Limited exceptions exist (parody, quotation, private use) but they are narrow. A personalised children’s book sold to a customer is by definition commercial use, and never falls under such an exception.

Notable enforcement cases

Rights-holders take their rights seriously, as illustrated by clear case law. In Walt Disney Productions v. Air Pirates (581 F.2d 751, Ninth Circuit 1978), an underground comic used Disney characters in a satirical context. The court confirmed that even parody did not free the Disney characters: Disney won, and the ruling established that visual characters enjoy copyright protection independent of the stories in which they appeared.

Disney has been known for active enforcement ever since, even against small-scale use. A widely reported 1989 case involved three Florida day-care centres that had painted Mickey and Donald murals on their walls. Disney demanded removal and prevailed. The message was clear: scale does not matter legally.

For a publisher this means: even if one customer orders one book featuring Pikachu, that constitutes copyright infringement. The publisher, not the customer, bears primary responsibility. Damages can reach thousands of pounds per infringement. Deliberate commercial-scale infringement can lead to criminal sanctions, including imprisonment under section 107 of the UK CDPA.

What you can do: three legal routes

The picture turns positive here. There are several legitimate ways to combine a personalised book with favourite characters or themes.

1. Officially licensed personalisation

Several publishers have paid for licences from rights-holders. Examples:

Personal Creations (US) sells Disney® Marvel personalised books under licence, including “Spider-Man Beginnings” with the child’s name woven into the story
KD Novelties offers licensed Marvel titles such as the “Spider-Man Ultimate Collection”
Personalise.co.uk (UK) holds licences for Marvel Avengers personalised gifts

In these products, parents partly pay for the licence fee, so they tend to cost more than a comparable book with original characters, and personalisation is usually more limited (name only, no photo, no free-text story). The IP owner dictates the narrative, not you.

2. Original-character personalisation

Publishers such as Wonderbly and MyOwnChildbook work with their own invented characters, into which the child’s name (and in our case also photo and free-form story) is woven. No licence required, and therefore more creative freedom for the customer.

3. Inspiration without imitation

A third route: use thematic inspiration without protected elements. A story about a child collecting fantasy creatures (without calling them “Pokémon”) or experimenting with secret ice magic (without naming “Elsa” or “Frozen”) is legally fine. Ideas themselves are not protected, only specific creative expressions.

Child looking at a picture book with an originally drawn fox character

What research says about who the “hero” should be

A side effect of this legal limit often turns out positive. Research on bibliotherapy and child identification (see the review in The Handbook of Solitude, Coplan & Bowker 2014) suggests that recognition in the main character matters more for identification than the fame of the character. A child would rather hear themselves in an adventure than a figure they already know from elsewhere.

For parents who want their child centre-stage, an original story with their child as hero tends to be stronger than a borrowed role beside Pikachu or Elsa. The benefits of a personalised book with the child’s own name are at their greatest when the story revolves entirely around the child.

In summary

Including Pokémon, Frozen, Bluey or other protected franchises in a personalised children’s book is legally impossible without a licence, even for a single copy. Licensed alternatives exist, in which parents partly cover the licence cost. Other publishers (including us) work with original characters and the child as the lead. The most creative route is usually that last one: let your child be the hero of their own adventure.

Want to see how this works without protected characters? Browse our example books or create your own story right away.

Sources

Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, WIPO (1886, last revised 1979). wipo.int/treaties/en/ip/berne
Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market
Walt Disney Productions v. Air Pirates, 581 F.2d 751 (9th Cir. 1978)
Coplan, R. J. & Bowker, J. C. (2014). The Handbook of Solitude. Wiley-Blackwell.