QA

Question: How Do People Get Away With Selling Fan Art

Write a formal letter requesting permission to sell your fan art. Address your letter to the copyright owner and explain who you are and what you want to do. Be clear about the fact that you want to sell your fan art and let them know where you plan to sell it.

How do I get away with selling fan art?

How To Sell Fan Art Legally You can apply to the copyright owner for written permission or consent. List your art for sale on a site such as Redbubble, who already have implemented the processes to collect royalties on your behalf for specific copyright owners.

Is it legal to create fan art?

Most fan art work is probably not legally permitted, and most likely infringes on someone’s copyright. If the owner does not consent to a particular use of a work, fan art may be considered infringement of either the copyright and/or trademark of the original work that the art is based on.

Is it illegal to sell fan art on Etsy?

Originally Answered: Is selling fan art in an Etsy shop illegal? If you are breaching trademarks or copyrights, yes, it’s illegal. The term “fan art” has no legal standing.

Is it legal to sell fan art of celebrities?

But is it okay to sell celebrity portraits? You should avoid selling celebrity portraits unless you have permission to do so. In most states, you have a “Right of Publicity” which prohibits anyone from selling or exploiting your name, likeness, or personal features without your consent.

Do you need a license to sell fan art?

The main way to get permission to sell fan art is to obtain a license from the copyright holder. For most artists who create fan art and do not expect to have the volumes of sales to support the cost of a license there is also the option of paying royalties through a site such as RedBubble.com.

How can I sell my Disney art legally?

You cannot sell your drawings of Disney characters because, by doing so, you would be infringing on The Walt Disney Company’s copyrights and trademarks. These characters are their intellectual property. If you want to sell your Disney artwork, you have to secure a license from them.

Can you sell fan art of anime?

As a short answer, it is totally okay to sell anime art if it’s an original creation and not fan art. It’s okay to sell anime fan art if you have the copyright holder’s permission to do so. Otherwise, it’s illegal to sell fan art.

Is it legal to sell fan art on redbubble?

Fanart on Redbubble is not legal but anime fanart usually isn’t dealt with by the original creators for a bunch of reasons. One, the fanart people make is often of something the creator would not release official merch for, like maybe a ship fanart for a fanon ship.

Can you get in trouble for selling fanart?

Technically speaking, there’s nothing illegal in the US about making and selling fan art because copyright isn’t enforced criminally. Rather, copyright owners enforce their rights by suing infringers in federal civil court. If they win, they could get money from you.

Does fanart fall under fair use?

Many believe that any use of famous characters is fair use so long as it is not “commercial.” The fair use doctrine under copyright law does not give carte blanche protection from infringement to entire genres of derivative works like “fan art” or “mash-ups,” or to “noncommercial” depictions of famous characters.

Is unlicensed merch illegal?

No it is not legal, it can get you into a lot of trouble. Using images created by others without permission is copyright infringement. Using the name of another business or brand to sell your own products is often trademark infringement.

Does Disney sell fan art?

Fan art is absolutely okay to make and share. However, if you are drawing an almost exact replica of a Disney character, you cannot sell your fan art. There are no protections for selling fan art that is a near copy of a Disney character. A third common statement is fair use.

Can I paint a picture of someone famous and sell it?

You can sell a fine art painting of a celebrity as long as it is a transformative work of art. This means it needs to be artistic in nature, not just a faithful likeness. The painting cannot copy an existing work of art (including a photo), and cannot interfere with a celebrity’s “right of publicity”.

Are celebrity pictures copyrighted?

Copyright applies as soon as someone creates an original piece of artwork. This happens regardless of whether a professional camera or a smartphone was used. The celebrity’s picture may not even belong to the celebrity herself, but to the photographer who took the photo. They took it, They own it.

How do I avoid copyright on Etsy?

Don’t Use Artwork That Isn’t Yours! Copyright law centers around the protection of someone’s creative work – and that includes art. Don’t use artwork from the Internet without an artist’s permission and then reproduce it on t-shirts, jewelry or other paraphernalia.

How much do I get from redbubble?

When a customer makes a purchase, Redbubble will print the artwork onto the product and ship it to the customer (on demand). The designer will receive a royalty*, usually between 10%-30% of the purchase price (designers have a degree of control over their royalty margins).

Is selling fan art at Convention okay?

It’s not legal to sell fan art at conventions if you haven’t acquired permission to do so from the copyright holder. The copyright holder can give you the right to sell fan art based on intellectual property created before. With the copyright holder’s permission, you are able to sell fan art at conventions.

How do you get rights to Disney characters?

In order to use the characters legally, you must request permission from Disney Enterprises. Multiple corporate entities of Disney own many of the intellectual property rights of Disney characters. To learn more about which Disney entity owns the character you want to use, visit the Disney website.