My Star-Wars Themed Product idea: Do you need licensing for products related to copyright material?

Ben Meeder Mechanical Engineer that loves solving problems with a multidisciplinary approach

December 6th, 2017

this question is piggy backing off of this article with an idea I recently had and am exploring as a side business https://www.entrepreneur.com/answer/234705

I recently had an idea for a star wars themed product idea that, as far as I can tell hasn't been made. I know seems impossible right :)

Without giving the whole idea away, it consists mostly of making small replicas of lightsabers on my local lathe, selling these products on a store like etsy and then scaling to machine shops.

If anyone has experience with creating products that you either had to license or didn't need to because your product was "inspired by" but didn't carry the brand name could you advise me on:

1. should I only move forward with this idea if I have explicit permission from lucasfilm or disney?

2. should I not worry about this because there are so many inspired by products out there that I am little fish in a big pond?

3. Should I contact a lawyer before starting? If so what kind of law or buzz words should I be throwing out there?

4. If I were to start the licensing process, where would I even begin?