![]() “Fair use” doesn’t mean what we would normally think of as “fair” in the usual sense of the word. I often hear from artists that they believe their derivative character art is legal because it is “fair use.” While the concept of “fair use” is widely invoked, unfortunately it is also widely misunderstood. While this practice is widespread, it is not necessarily legal. Often, artists also post their derivative character art on social media and print-on-demand platforms such as Zazzle, DeviantArt, and Redbubble, where people can purchase merchandise imprinted with the artwork. (For purposes of this discussion, I will refer to all derivative works based on famous characters as “derivative character art.”)Īrtists may sell their derivative character art at conventions. government work), or the derivative work qualifies as fair use. Unauthorized derivative works will be deemed copyright infringements, unless the original work is not protected by copyright (it could be old enough that copyright has expired, or it could be a U.S. In copyright parlance, these types of artworks are called “derivative works” because they are based on (derived from) and incorporate elements from another work. Seuss and Star Trek (more about that below). ![]() A recent example combined the characters and worlds of Dr. Increasingly, artists are also creating mash-ups of popular icons that combine character attributes from two different fictional worlds. Others are humorous caricatures, or show the characters doing or saying things that are inconsistent with their official personalities, such as children’s characters swearing or engaging in sexual activity. ![]() Sometimes these new works are classic “fan art,” meaning that they celebrate the original characters. Many artists create artwork based on their favorite cultural icons, such as comic book figures, or fictional characters from books, movies and television shows. This article is part of the Legalities series by OW&E’s Linda Joy Kattwinkel and was originally published as Legalities #43.
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