How do you know what fanart is okay to sell?

[gracerofl]

I am curious about this and thought this would be a good place to ask since there is a lot of fan art sold in Artist's Alley. I haven't done much looking into this issue before, but this seems like a good starting place.

How can you know what is and is not okay to sell prints or homemade merchandise of? Do you have to contact every company or look up their individual policies? What if you can't understand their policies due to legal jargon or the possibility of it being in a different language such as Japanese?

I know I've seen things like Ace Attorney and Gurren Lagann merchandise sold, and so assume it's legal. I know that things like MSPA (Homestuck) is illegal to sell prints or merchandise unless given specific permission. What of things like the free game Yume Nikki, whose creator is a single person whom I believe to be Japanese?

I'm thinking about getting an AA table in the future but I want to know what I should and should not be planning to sell at it first.

[toadstoolssecretluvchild]

In theory, all fanart is "illegal". Sure you could go ahead and contact every company, but it's easier to just have them contact you and say "Stop selling our stuff!" - which will probably never happen, and that's being serious. You're protected under a Fair Use Exception law http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use  If you want to sell fanart go ahead. The main things to worry about are selling items that are "replicas" Something that looks exactly like a product that a company is currently selling. Are you selling your fanart on a grand scale 98% of the time you are not. If you were a Hot Topic store selling  fanart of Super Mario characters you would be in a lot of trouble since your reach is broad, but a 18yr old kid selling 20 prints of MLP? Nah!

Go have fun.

[darkshardsyuki]

The rule of thumb for 'fan art' is: for craft items, is there an official product of the item you are making, if there is you can't make and sell it but if there isn't your usually ok. For art we look at the characters, poses, and images. Does it look just like the official art or style, if it does we don't allow it but if its your own interpretation of a character in your own art style and pose then its usually ok, although 13+ and 18+ rules still apply.

[rini]

do i need to do another copyright panel again this year?

darkshardsyuki runs the AA, and if you're selling in AA, her say is what the rules are.

now, if you're asking about whether fanart is _legal_, that's a whole other ball of wax, and unless you want to go to law school,  it's best to stick to what the AA heads tell you.

and, just a correction, no, fair use doesn't cover fanart at all. the possible protection for fanart actually comes from the 1st amendment.

that reminds me, i gotta go look up and see if "time and relative dimensions in space" is trademarked.

[EDIT] well, good to know it's not. for those interested in researching trademarks: http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp

[gracerofl]

Thanks for your responses! This is quite helpful.