Legal Area of Fan Art (Just to make sure)

[PkUltimaga]

I know that this post is obviously unnecessary, and I'm probably going to get flagged or something.

But I want to be 100% sure that my fan-comic is okay to make!

You see, last time I checked, profiting from copyrighted material (Characters, for example) of any kind is, for the most part, illegal, and that it's not a good idea to sell fan-art, (except for some conventions in a limited scale, I think)

I wish to make things clear here:

1. I AM MAKING THIS COMIC BECAUSE I ENJOY IT, AND IT'S MY WAY OF EXPRESSING MYSELF THAT I AM A NINTENDO FAN, A STAR FOX FAN!

2. I HAVE NO INTENTION OF PROFITING FROM NINTENDO'S WORKS, I WOULD NEVER DO THAT, I'M PRETTY STRICT ABOUT THOSE THINGS.

3. THE FACT THAT I'M MAKING THIS COMIC FOR FREE, AND FOR FUN, IS A FORM OF FREE SPEECH AND FREE Expression, WHICH IS PROTECTED BY ALMOST ALL CONSTITUTIONS OF ANY DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY.

I like to stay on the legal side of things, trust me, getting in trouble with these things is what I want less...

I believe you guys in this forum can help me clear my head, you see, I DON'T WANT THIS THOUGHT TO BOTHER ME, IT INTERFERES WITH MY PROGRESS IN THE COMIC! So please help me out here.

[Redeemer]

No flagging bro, I'll be glad to give you peace of mind.

Fanart is a massive part of our art community. I think that, as long as you make it clear that this concept is not yours and does indeed belong to Nintendo, you're safe. I've drawn fanart of many games including Zelda, Dragon Age, and obviously I do a lot of My Little Pony art. I always give credit where it's due, just to keep myself in the right.

If you're making a fan comic, as long as you don't seek to make money from it and you give credit to Nintendo for everything they've made, you should be okay. Many people on here have their own fanfics, projects and such, and they seem to be okay. :)

[Fana McCloud]

Yeah, most rights holders don't care about fanart as long as you're not making money off it - the only exception that I know of being Anne McCaffrey, she wouldn't allow anyone to make Dragonriders of Pern fan works for any damn reason. XD The rights holders naturally have the legal right to tell you to cease and desist if they don't like how you're using it, but that verrrrrrrry rarely happens, as fanart actually is free publicity for them. Just don't, yanno, make porn of it - that tends to make rights holders antsy.

[PkUltimaga]

Thank you all for the replies! Yes, I'm actually pretty strict about copyright. But not so much as I wouldn't let fans do fan work of my ORIGINAL material!

But I've made it clear that the concept of my SF fan comic belongs to Nintendo, I even have this warning in my DA Gallery page that reads:

"Warning: The following is a non-profit, fanbased adaption, Star Fox and all of it's characters are owned by Nintendo, Nintendo EAD, Argonaut Software, Q-Games and Shigeru Miyamoto, please support the official release (As in buy anything Star Fox related to support the franchise!)"

The last thing I ever want is to get in trouble for copyright stuff...

[Vy'drach]

Most of the time companies won't even want to crack down on things like that as it makes them look like a tyrannical corporation, which is bad publicity. Only time I've really heard of a company cracking down on things like that was Hasbro cracking down on episodes being uploaded to places (which was rare), and on a rather famous (amongst bronies) plush maker, and the latter wasn't that Hasbro or the creators really wanted to issue a cease and desist on it, but because there was some legal precedent where if they didn't, they could of lost the rights to the characters. 'Least that's how it was explained on Equestria Daily. When it comes to fanart, however, usually the creators are fine with it if not enjoy it. Take League of Legends. Custom skins is technically illegal in the game, but the developers so far have done nothing to stop it and many of them have commended the League of Legends modding community for their work.

[PkUltimaga]

So all of this means I'm safe! I'm going to be honest, I am pro-fan art and pro-fan fiction, but I'm also 100% against the PROFITING of other people's work, with the sole exception of selling a drawing in a convention, which is very limited in stock, and even in that end, I don't see myself doing that. I would never profit from anything that's not completely mine, it would be unfair for both the maker and the consumer!

Long story short, I'm not profiting from it, and I'm sure Nintendo would be glad that their fans are making cool drawings for them! ^^ So I won't worry about this anymore, thank you everyone! I'll be updating on info about my comic, just wait a little longer! :D

[psy_commando]

Well, that question is one I've been struggling with for a while.

I got a little tired of only having vague answers. So I tried to gather as much data as I could on this issue.

The conclusion is, there is absolutely no laws that protects fans making fanworks, anywhere in the world. There's "Fair use" in the USA only, but that's a defense, not a law. You'd still have to go to court. So whenever an IP holder decides he doesn't like his fans, he can unleash his legal team on them, and start bullying, not necessarily suing, but sending threatening letters and Cease and Desists.

Which mean that, nasty things like discrimination, racism, favoritism, etc, towards the fans are absolutely ok... Since its not a neutral 3rd party like a judge that takes the decision, but IP owners. And they can't be accused of discrimination, because fanwork isn't even recognized as legal, which would completely kill your case.

Granted, it doesn't happen very much. But without laws, people make their own justice, on their own terms. They won't necessarily care for their reputation, especially since the law is on their side, saying they can do as they want with their fans, producing fanworks.

Not making profits from fanwork isn't a sure way to avoid persecutions. Actually, lots of fans selling fan made merchandise, don't seem to ever get any legal trouble. T-shirts, drawing, models, plushies, keyholders, computer cases, etc..

Its kinda appalling that fans have existed for so long and are so common, yet there's nothing about fanwork anywhere in the laws..

I only know of one organism that defend fans, the OTW, and its pretty much USA only.

With that said, I really don't believe its worth dropping all your fan projects because of that. Each time a fan project gets shut down it makes people think.

Err, now is the awkward moment I realize I might have got a little carried away :S

But yeah, basically don't give up. You can't be 100% safe but you're not likely to get shut down either.