Selling copyrighted goods

[Kamiccolo]

I work at a website that makes an online Dragon Ball Z card game. We create images of cards and put them into a program that allows people to play the game online. Recently we have been considering printing these cards and selling them to people through the site to allow them to play the game with real cards as well. These cards contain copyrighted material which we do not have permission to use, so I don't believe it would be legal for us to sell them.

http://www.toptiergaming.com/dbzocg/images/carddatabase/Onset/Goku lvl 1.jpg
Imageshack - backer.png

This is one of the cards, showing both the front and back. From what I understand these are the things on this card that we don't have permission to use:
1) The character name
2) The picture which has been taken from the tv show
3) The "DragonBallZ" logo owned by Funimation and/or Toei Animation.

My first question is: How easy would it be to get permission from the companies who do own these things so we would be able to sell the cards? We have somewhere around 30 people playing this game, so there wouldn't be a lot of money made from this. The cards would only be sold through our website, and all profits would go towards paying costs to maintain the site, support the game and used as prizes for the online tournaments we hold.

My second question is: Is what we are currently doing by just creating these images of cards and using them in an online game legal? If it's not and they don't give us permission to sell cards would they then also be able to force us to stop making the game online?
We've been working on the game for over a year now and I'd prefer not to contact them if it will result in them finding out what we're doing and stopping us from making the game anymore.

My third question is: Is there a way to still sell these cards legally without permission? We've considered an idea of having members donate money to the website, and then sending them the cards for free as a gift to thank them for supporting the game. But I've also been told that it may not be legal to print these cards at all, even if they're not being sold to anyone.

Thanks to anyone who can help with this.

 

[FlyingRon]

What is the name of your state?

Frankly everything you're doing NOW is illegal.
What you're contemplating is also illegal.

There is nothing you can do unless you get their permission (license) to use their copyright and trademarks.

 

[Kamiccolo]

Thanks for the reply.

I don't live in America. The owner of the site we're using does but I'm not sure which state he lives in. I live in New Zealand.

Do you know how likely it would be for a company to give permission to use their copyrights and trademarks to someone? We never asked permission before because we assumed there would be no reason for them to want to allow it. I suppose a fan site for one of their products could help their sales for that product. But the free game we're making could also be seen as competition to any other Dragon Ball Z card games that are made.

 

[FlyingRon]

US LAW ONLY.

You can contact Funimation who appear to be the responsible people here.
There's information on their web page on how to contact them. They're down in Texas I believe.

 

[Kamiccolo]

I checked with the owner of the site and he lives in Illinois. Fuimation are in Texas so I think everything we want to do would be only using the US laws. I'd probably print the cards in New Zealand if we get permission to do it because it's cheaper here, but I don't think that would make any difference to what the US laws prevent us from doing.

I'll contact Funimation and see if they will give us permission.

Thanks for all the help =).