Fan Art Copyright Law. It s bad because every instance of fan art is a copyright infringement. If you have ever created or enjoyed fan art whether you are an artist or simply an enthusiast please take a few minutes to read this.
Fan art is technically copyright infringement. Fan fiction and fan art can be derivative works but they also may be protected by fair use. So the law has addressed some aspects of fan art notably critical parody and transformative work which however requires case by case analysis for determination but not the most common forms of fan art.
Fan fiction and fan art can be derivative works but they also may be protected by fair use.
Since i ve never fully educated myself on that either i took some time to actually read through relevant us copyright law and thought i might share what i learned with you guys so you can be informed as well. Fan art is a double edged sword for owners of popular characters. If you are making money from fan art whether you are selling it or otherwise benefiting financially this is generally illegal unless you have permission from the copyright owner of course. The fair use doctrine takes into consideration whether the work was created for a nonprofit purpose and some courts place the most weight on the fourth factor the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
