[ SECRET POST #2559 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2559 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 062 secrets from Secret Submission Post #366.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 1 2 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Fandom crafts

[(Anonymous)]

Something I always wondered about. How come people can capitalize on home made fandom merch - shirts, plushies, etc. but not fanfic? I heard the creators of WtNV have said no to people selling their self made merch but I wonder why other creators are so lax about it.

Re: Fandom crafts

[tasogare_n_hime]

I have no idea about the legality of it or anything, but with the cost of materials, and possibly shipping stuff out to people not handing the stuff out for free does make more sense that trying to charge someone who wants to read the fic you wrote.

Re: Fandom crafts

[(Anonymous)]

I think in some cases there's a difference between merchandise that references or is about something without being branded, and new creative material that's set in an established universe using established characters? IDK tho IANAL

Re: Fandom crafts

[caerbannog]

I've seen people charge for fanfic before. I don't think it's hugely common though and I wouldn't sell fanfic for the same reason I don't sell fanart - too risky legally.

That and I imagine it's pretty difficult to sell hardcopies of premade fanfic versus premade fanart. The image you can see the entirety of straight away, fanfic a person would need to sit down and read. Then fanfic you can't really wear like a shirt or badge.

That said I've seen hardcopies of fanfic floating around, it may have been the Portal fandom? it looked pretty cool and if I had liked the story more I may have bought it.

Re: Fandom crafts

[(Anonymous)]

I've always been confused how people capitalize on fandom merch period, because as far as I understood it that's all trademarked and illegal to profit from. That's why you (used to) see that standard disclaimer on all fics and fanart "I do not own, I'm not making profit, this is just for fun, etc".

Re: Fandom crafts

[(Anonymous)]

Depends on the company, but most don't care if you're creating things on a small level.

Re: Fandom crafts

[(Anonymous)]

most of the times it just flies under the radar, OR, sometimes the company that owns the trademark rights to the characters just turns a blind eye, sometimes because the fanartist isn't making enough money to make up for the legal cost of going after them, or because they see it as free publicity

but really, it depends on a) the nature of the fanart (is it porn of children media characters?), b) the attitude/money of the company, d) where the fanart is being sold, e) if it's all the artist sells, f) the volume/amounts of fanart sold, g) if it's just the one individual or an entire company producing and selling

and other factors too, I imagine

Re: Fandom crafts

[nyxelestia]

Pretty much all fanworks are a gray area, legally. Fanfic is most at risk, but also stays in the clear by virtue of being non-profit (usually). It runs the most 'risk' because of how close to plagiarism it is - with a few exceptions (namely spin-offs), once a creator makes a work, that work is 'set'.

Merch, on the other hand, based on a fandom is a lot less 'set' in that a lot of people engage in it, and a lot of people capitalize off this original creator's work of fiction, so it's less of an issue. When people individually make and sell merchandise, usually they are so small that the owners of the original work just don't bother doing anything because there little to no 'theft' from either the original work or existing merch vendors who are doing the same thing, just legally, and as such it's not worth the cost of legal action. By the time someone becomes 'big' enough in selling their merch to create any noticeable ripples in merch and profits, they'll often end up cutting a deal with the fiction's ownership company, anyway. (i.e. at my local fabric store - I highly doubt that Marvel actively bothered to make a lot of character-printed fleeces themselves; more likely, someone else wanted to and just cut a deal with Marvel to do so). In other words, the extra merch is little to no loss of profits for the companies owning the work, and can even act as extra free advertising, so they're not going to waste money pursuing legal action.

The reason why fanfic usually doesn't get this same treatment is that it's basically plagiarism to just use another writer/creator's work as your own, and plagiarism is seen as intellectual theft, a rather different beast from thefts of or losses in monetary profits. Of course, in theory a writer can also 'cut a deal', but this usually only works in company-owned fandoms in which the 'fanfic' is basically just a spin-off (i.e. Star Wars and Star Trek, some comic-book novelizations, etc), and even then it only really works if the new material doesn't conflict with the existing work (which a lot of fanfic, if not arguably most, does quite a bit).