If I were the author of the original, I'd be thrilled. And would offer the character as the project's mascot tied to a set of conditions based on the success of the product so that, in case it fails to gain traction, it should be renamed and allow the name to be used by another product.

It's more or less the same spirit as the Roddenberry estate allows someone to use the names - you are allowed to build a warp drive, as long as it warps spacetime and allows FTL travel.