Hi Morbius
Glad to see you’re still at it.
Regarding copyright, I don’t think you have a problem (although I’m open to correction from others). Copyright, I believe, expires 50 years after the death of the author. Frankenstein, for example, was written in 1818 so is no longer under copyright. That said, Universal may have the copyright on their particular representation of Frankenstein but not on Frankenstein in general (i.e. you can create a Frankenstein which is recognizably the original character as long as it doesn’t resemble too closely Universal’s one - and you can also call him Frankenstein).
“Copyright covers the expression of an idea”(wikipedia), so since Laurel and Hardy were not that but actual living people, I don’t think they would ever have been covered by copyright (their films of course would). In their case I think, legally speaking, if you were to use their photo for advertising you might require permission from their heirs but since they are deemed of public interest you wouldn’t require permission for newsworthy or editorial publication. I think anyone trying to prosecute you for using their likeness in sculpting a pair of pumpkins would be skating on very thin ice!!
Here is another quote from Wikipedia:
“Copyright law covers only the form or manner in which ideas or information have been manifested, the “form of material expression”. It is not designed or intended to cover the actual idea, concepts, facts, styles, or techniques which may be embodied in or represented by the copyright work. For example, the copyright which subsists in relation to a Mickey Mouse cartoon prohibits unauthorized parties from distributing copies of the cartoon or creating derivative works which copy or mimic Disney’s particular anthropomorphic mouse, but does not prohibit the creation of artistic works about anthropomorphic mice in general, so long as they are sufficiently different to not be deemed imitative of the original.”
Looking forward to seeing your pumkins develop,
Best of luck
Jason
