[ SECRET POST #2651 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2651 ⌋

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

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 051 secrets from Secret Submission Post #379.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 2 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I don't think people are legally permitted to sell fanart, either. I doubt it falls under fair use or anything - it's more a matter if the company that owns the work actually cares. I know in Japan, doujinshi and stuff are also not technically legal, but most companies see it as great publicity and a way to get more attention to the work (which I respect!).

That being said, I think there's a difference between selling a fanfic and selling a physical fanart. With fanart, the "cost" can be technically to cover materials - paper, markers, ink, etc. - and not the actual image itself. I think that's fair. There's no cost in distributing fanfiction (or fanart) online. If you were to hypothetically print your fanfic, put a cover on it, bind it, and so on and then try to sell it at a convention, that would be a little more comparable. I'm not sure why people would buy a fanfic they haven't read, as opposed to fanart they can see instantly that they like, but whatever.

[(Anonymous)]

sa

Also, I know that some conventions ban selling fanart, I assume for the legal gray area (or totally black, depending). I have a friend who sells fanart, and at those conventions she's only allowed to sell her original art.

So yeah. Pretty sure it's technically illegal, but companies probably won't care. Then again, they might. Depends on how much business sense they have. :P

[(Anonymous)]

For many of the big companies, this is pretty true. Marvel and DC don't generally care about the fanart--they could crack down on it, but they don't want to because it would really seriously eff up a lot of things in a small industry. But if someone were selling a written story or a fan-comic, they would crack down hard like hell.

I think a big part of that is wanting to maintain control of their characters. They tell a lot of different Spider-man stories, but all of those stories are theirs. They get to say whose stories are legit. They have control over that. If someone sells "Spider-man and Deadpool: Forbidden Love" the prose fic or fancomic at a convention...it's a story. It's the sort of thing they sell. That they have zero control over.

From that point it is a very slippery slope, legally, to not having any control over their characters whatsoever. Then EVERYONE can write themselves a Spider-man comic or novel and sell that for money and not have to give Marvel a dime for the pleasure, because hey, y'all didn't take action that first time.

It's a legal muddle. The sort of thing that maybe it wouldn't happen, but on a technical and legal level, it isn't too far from : "person not employed by Marvel sells their Spider-man story for money" to "and now Spider-man is a creative commons character." And they don't want that.

And in general, fans don't want the big companies to crack down and take all the toys away, so they toe the line.

[(Anonymous)]

The BBC will sue. They are very litigious. If they know about stuff. There was a woman knitting little adipose toys, they took her to court and made her stop.

I think it depends on the companies and also if they know. Even if their merchandise is at a convention they may not realise there's fan art being sold I guess.

[khandri]

I don't sell art myself (yet), but another thing to remember is that for some titles, especially older, forgotten, and/or more obscure ones, artists may be filling a niche that doesn't exist (especially if it's something like wearable art, something I'd like to get into one of these days). How can anyone be taking money away from a company when they're not filling that particular niche?

[hiyami]

It's illegal to sell fan-art, but as you say, few companies bother to sue unless it becomes somewhat big, or offensive.

I once talked to an artist who had made covers for a series of novel. It was a legal contract for the publisher, but due to editorial reasons, the publisher decided to completely change of style for a xth edition, and didn't use all the covers he had already designed, only a few.

Since I liked his art and was curious to see the others, I asked him if he couldn't use it anyway in postcards or else, and he said he legally couldn't because it wasn't his characters. And it was *fan* art, but stuff he had done on command.

[(Anonymous)]

Look up fanzines.

[mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com]

This is where I agree. I have paid for fanart (well, it could be called "fan-craft") because there was materials and hard work involved, and I got solid items mailed to me once I finished paying the maker.

I'd consider (briefly) paying for fanfic if it came in a nice, quality book-binding. Paying for digital information though? Not really.

(My mentioned fanart pieces were a couple of needle-felted dolls.)