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My thoughts on Character Ownership.
9 years ago
Normally, when you create a work, you automatically have copyright of that work, meaning other people can't just copy it. While it probably wouldn't hold up in any court, you DO have a technical, legal right to any fursonas and works you create featuring them, unless of course you renounce the rights by releasing it under creative commons.
However, this is different when it comes to derivative works. If you use characters from somebody else's copyrighted material, like fanart or fanfiction, you probably won't get sued unless you are profiting from it. Selling commissions is a legal grey area holders generally don't care about, but making and selling unlicensed merchandiser is gonna get you in trouble.
What I am trying to say from all of this, is that all of my fanfictions are derivative works. All of them, which means that I have no implicit or legal right to any stories and characters I use. I am taking characters and interpriting them in my own ways, I am ripping them off, so if anyone makes derivative works of my derivative works, which people have done with fan art, I have no right to be annoyed or to stop them. I just use canon characters, but even if your character is a "Pokesona" or "Digisona", they are still a derivative character, and you have no right to stop anyone else trying to use them, like Remus and Sam from Lycanroc on the Prowl.
If someone took those characters and wrote about them without my permission, there would be nothing I could ethically do about that. I used characters from Pokemon, so if someone takes those characters from me and uses them, there is nothing, ethically I can do. If I derive characters and people derive characters from me, I can't stop them, because then I would be a hypocrite.
However, this is different when it comes to derivative works. If you use characters from somebody else's copyrighted material, like fanart or fanfiction, you probably won't get sued unless you are profiting from it. Selling commissions is a legal grey area holders generally don't care about, but making and selling unlicensed merchandiser is gonna get you in trouble.
What I am trying to say from all of this, is that all of my fanfictions are derivative works. All of them, which means that I have no implicit or legal right to any stories and characters I use. I am taking characters and interpriting them in my own ways, I am ripping them off, so if anyone makes derivative works of my derivative works, which people have done with fan art, I have no right to be annoyed or to stop them. I just use canon characters, but even if your character is a "Pokesona" or "Digisona", they are still a derivative character, and you have no right to stop anyone else trying to use them, like Remus and Sam from Lycanroc on the Prowl.
If someone took those characters and wrote about them without my permission, there would be nothing I could ethically do about that. I used characters from Pokemon, so if someone takes those characters from me and uses them, there is nothing, ethically I can do. If I derive characters and people derive characters from me, I can't stop them, because then I would be a hypocrite.
I sure wish we could actually get some fucking laws changed with us in mind, or even some made to cater to us artists and others who own characters. The current system is ridiculously archaic. I don't understand why anybody would think laws that are "Open to interpretation" would work. And I also hate the jury system because it goes by opinions instead of fact and the Jury can do Jury fraud if everybody has the same idea.