There really is no formal way of protecting a pen name unless that is also serving as a trademark. As noted, you are free to adopt one of course...

Whether you can use the trademark depends. The fact that it is in use in another country will not matter in the US, unless they are also using it...

You would not approach this from an IP angle. To your point, standard forms and contracts in most cases (but not all) will lack the required...

You could be violating their right of privacy and publicity, which are state governed laws that vary. These kick in when one uses the name, image...

I'm just not so sure it is even remotely helpful to stab at the wind here because there are a number of details that need to be considered....

I wouldn't worry much about it. Unless you think this person would actually be paying $400-600 per hour for this lawyer to get involved it ain't...

I retagged this under litigation. While it concerns an IP case, it is really more related to litigation practice. As noted, you likely...

In general, you are free to buy an item then lend some artistic contributions to it and resell it. A good example might be taking a generic denim...

As noted, "fan art" is really just tolerated infringement. The fact that the moderators have to approve the listings tells us that it is not purely...

Let's say you buy Disney branded fabric that has many of their popular characters printed on it. The fabric is legit and licensed. But it is not...