Using my trolls
I hide my trolls in forests and fields so people will go looking for them, and fall a little more in love with nature along the way. Going to find them, photographing them, telling your friends: that is exactly what they are there for, and you never need to ask me.
A few things do need a conversation first, and a few I can't say yes to at all. Here is the whole picture, as plainly as I can put it.
Yes, go ahead
No permission needed-
Visit the trolls and bring your friends
Hunt them, climb the hill to reach them, make a day of it. They were built to be found.
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Take your own photos and film
Share them on your own social media, send them to your family, print one for your wall. If you would like me to see them, send them to fanart@thomasdambo.com.
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Draw, paint or sculpt them for your own pleasure
Fan art made for yourself and the people close to you is a compliment, not a problem.
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Write and talk about them
Blog about your troll hunt, tell people where to find one, teach your class about building from waste.
Ask first, and expect an honest answer
Never assume a yesCommercial use always needs a conversation, and I say no more often than yes. My work is about using less, not making more things, so anything that puts my trolls to work selling something starts from a long way behind. Please ask anyway. An early conversation is far better than an awkward one later, and you will always get a straight answer.
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Anything with a business attached
If a company, a shop, a paid service or a registered media outlet is involved, the answer isn't automatic, but the conversation is easy.
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Photos used publicly or commercially
Permission for photos is often given free of charge for educational and other non-commercial use. Public or commercial use needs approval, and may involve a fee. Start at press.
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Merchandise and products
Anything carrying my name or my artwork needs a licence, and licences are not given out lightly. A product has to earn its place: it must fit recycling, waste reduction, and not add another unnecessary thing to the world. Most proposals do not get there. Start with the supplier principles, they tell you what a product has to live up to, and how to get in touch.
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Tours, events and experiences built around the trolls
A troll-hunting tour or a themed event is something to agree with us, not to assume.
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Public exhibitions and institutional projects
If it goes out into the world under an organisation's name, check with us first.
No, this isn't something I can approve
Not permitted-
Building your own troll in my style
Even as a tribute, even for free, even with your own name on it. A sculpture built in my visual language is a copy of my work, and it isn't something I can bless afterwards. If you want a troll where you live, ask me for one instead.
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Animating the trolls
3D animations, AI videos and moving versions of a sculpture are new works made from mine. My trolls stand still in the forest, and I would like to keep them that way. This applies privately as well as publicly.
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AI-generated trolls, and AI edits of real ones
Generating "a Dambo-style troll", or editing one of my trolls into a new scene, both cross the same line. My work is made from real waste, by real hands.
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Using a troll to advertise
Putting one of my trolls in your marketing suggests I am endorsing you. Almost always, I am not.
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Borrowing my names and titles
My own name, and the titles of my works, The Six Forgotten Giants and the rest, are not free to use for tours, products or projects.
How copyright actually works
Most people who cross the line never meant to. Nearly always it comes down to one of these four things.
It is automatic. There is no register.
Copyright exists from the moment an artist makes something. Under the Berne Convention and EU law it needs no certificate, no registration and no number. There is nothing to look up, because protection is not granted by an office, it simply exists.
Free does not mean allowed.
Whether money changed hands is not the test. A non-commercial copy is still a copy. Commercial use makes it worse, not lawful.
Adaptations count too.
A copy does not have to be identical. An animation, an AI version, a sculpture in the same visual language: these are all new works made from mine, and they need permission just as a direct copy would.
Public does not mean public domain.
A troll standing in a forest that anyone can walk into is still my artwork. You are welcome to visit it and photograph it. You are not free to reproduce it.
A few extra notes for the United States
The protection is the same.
The United States is part of the Berne Convention too, so my trolls are protected there from the moment they are built: no registration, no paperwork. A troll in Iowa is protected exactly as one in Denmark is.
There is no freedom of panorama for sculptures.
US law lets you photograph a building freely. Sculptures are not covered by that exception. A troll standing in a public park is not free to reproduce commercially just because you can walk right up to it.
Fair use is narrower than people think.
Fair use protects things like commentary, criticism, news and teaching. It does not stretch to using my troll to sell food, drinks or tickets. Commercial use weighs heavily against it.
Registration adds teeth, but is not required.
As a foreign artist I do not need to register a work to enforce it in the US. Registration mainly affects what damages a court can award, it does not decide whether the work is protected in the first place.
The questions I am actually asked
I run a small business and I love the troll in our town. Can I use a photo of it in a post?
Not in a post that promotes the business. That is advertising, and it suggests I am endorsing you. Enjoying the troll is always welcome; putting it next to your offer is not.
If you would like to celebrate the troll as part of your community, write to us. There is often a good way to do it properly.
I made something myself, a drawing, a small carving, a badge for my friends. Is that alright?
Making it for your own pleasure is fine, and I am glad the trolls inspire it. Producing items to hand out, sell or trade is where it stops, even as gifts, and even at cost.
We have to give everyone the same answer, which is why we cannot approve individual items. It is not about your project in particular.
Our community built a wooden giant in your style. Nobody made any money from it. Surely that is a tribute?
I understand the affection behind it, and I know these are often built by volunteers with real care. But a sculpture made in my visual language reproduces my work, and people who love the trolls will believe they have found a real one. That confusion is exactly what copyright protects against.
It is not something we can authorise after the fact. Talk to us early, and we will always be straight with you about what is possible.
I made a 3D animation of a troll and shared it for fun. Where is the harm?
An animation is a new work made from my sculpture, and my trolls are not animated, they stand still in the forest, and I would like to keep them that way. That applies to private posts as well as public ones.
Your own photos and film of the sculpture as it stands are a different matter, and always welcome.
We would love a troll where we live. How do we get one?
Ask me. Start with the Commission a piece form, and we will take it from there. A real troll, built with the local community, is always better than a copy.
Not sure? Just ask.
You may well get a no, but you will get it early, kindly, and with a reason. Nobody has ever got into trouble for asking first, and it is far better than an awkward conversation once you have already started.
Merchandise & licensing
morten@thomasdambo.com
Start with the supplier principles.