eChipmunks

Who owns the copyright for Alvin and the Chipmunks?

I want to create an animation that uses the Chipmunks, the Chipettes, etc. and they will be animated like the ones from the 1987 Chipmunk Adventure. I want to know who to contact to get this permission. All I want to do is just use the characters. I don't want to recreate episodes or anything else. So my two questions are, who should I contact for copyright permission to use the characters from the Chipmunk Adventure? And will it increase my chances of getting permission if I do my own animation and audio? Thank you for the information, The Celestial Toymaker. Does anyone know how I can contact them about this. I'm not entirely sure what their website is and where to contact them.

Public Comments

1. The people who own the rights to Alvin and the Chipmunks is Bagdasarian Productions. It is a company created by the creator of the chipmunks - Ross Bagdasarian. It is now run by his son Ross Bagdasarian Jr. Here is the information about Bagdasarian Productions on wikipedia, unfortunately there isn't much information there but it can get you started.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagdasarian_Productions BTW: Did you know that Ross Bagdasarian was David Seville in the songs and cartoons? __________________________________________ You can TRY going here: http://www.chipmunks.com/ and click on the 'CONTACT' tab, Beyond that I don't know any more than they are in southern California (Santa Barbara) and they hold on to their properties very fiercely. They've even sued people making t-shirts because they looked too close to the t-shirts the chipmunks wear even though they were making them for something else totally different. Here is a story on that lively debate on rip-off report: http://www.ripoffreport.com/Lawyers/Bagdasarian-Producti/bagdasarian-productions-ipas-effdx.htm Here is the info at the patent and trademark office about the trademarks (these relate to just the letter A): http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=4002:pkqug9.4.43 http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=4002:pkqug9.4.44 http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/gate.exe?f=doc&state=4002:pkqug9.4.45 I wish I could be more help but that's all the info I could find.