I know it's illegal to stitch out licensed designs, although I see hundreds of them being used on ebay selling hundreds of items.

I would be very carefull with designs that "look-a-like". Here in Germany we had last year a big discussion because Jack Wolfskin gives written warnings to some crafters who sell things with a paw on it on DaWanda (= kind of german etsy). Not only the wolfpaw from their logo, also paws of cats and dogs. One case it was about a michael miller fabric with catpaws on it! So I think it isn't worth all the trouble you can get using such designs like Famous cartoons.
Last month two different digitizers had to take back designs that look too similar to Pippi Longstocking although they give them another name. The heirs of Astrid Lindgren have an eye on everything with the look or name of one of the books characters.
The main point is that a customer sees a likeness to the famous design and for that reason he buys it and not the high priced original.

It's a pity if you've already bought things that look like Disney, but there are a whole lot more really nice designs out there that are not in the least like those. I think it just takes time to get your head around taking in totally fresh ideas. Once you get used to really 'seeing' the beauty in new ideas, you'll probably wonder why so many want to stick with the regular, mundane, over-used ideas :) Maybe we really help condition grandkids etc to keep expecting 'the big D' if we stay on the same path?

You may want to read all the information on this links below that was formed by legal Digitizers that are trying to fight Ebay sellers that sell illegal/stolen designs.

There is good information on it regarding Copyrights and other information under the different tabs on the top of the page.

http://www.embroidery-and-designs...

Also if you have questions about different designs being sold and if it is legal to use them for personal use or for commercial use then join their Yahoo group and ask questions.

You can ask questions regarding Copyrights and Trademarks of designs so you understand the terms and know what is legal and what is not.

Here is the link to the Yahoo group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Eba...

East Witch

Disney's copyright says that their images and any images that are similar can not be used to create your own designs.

Only the copyright holder of the original work can give permission to use their work or give permission to some one to create new works from their copyrighted works.

The artist/digitizer of the designs you speak of is not the original artist but is someone that modified the artwork of someone else that holds the copyright to the original work.

So this artist/digitzer is selling illegal designs and could be held liable for infringment of the Disney copyright.

So no it is not alright for you to to use these designs for any purpose as it would be infringement too.

East Witch