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Question: Copyright or downright stealing?
5 years ago
Hey guys, lemme give a brief rundown:
I like collecting figures and I am very picky on the selection that I would get the garage kit of it, if it no longer exists.
(So if any of you have the Bloodborne Maria statue and don't mind parting with it... lemme know! XD) ANYWAYS!
The question:
Can I commission a 3D artist to draw a figure/character design that is a straight up copywrite of a movie/game/series
and have it printed and painted for me personally? It is not nor ever meant to be for mass production or reselling. It is
for my personal collection. I am curious honestly if there is a strike against such a thing. I know it still falls under fanart,
but is it on the 'fine line' I am not supposed to cross?
Also! Do plan on printing and painting it myself. Too lazy to do the 3D part of it.
99.99% in the clear
But that would be if the manufacturer looked for it.
But Thanks for the info. Definitely gonna be custom!
Beyond that you should be good to go.
Nah... no intention of selling. Just liked the idea of certain figure designs based off Boku no Hero and Panty Stocking (WEIRD I KNOW)
That I thought would make a cool figure.
I've 3d printed derivative stuff myself - it's all fine and dandy.
It was a garage kit limited run and my chances of finding it again is like... 0 to -10. Not to mention... this would look so nice if it was slightly bigger... like fucking prime one big.. XD
One is a straight up replica, but the rest are redesign fanarts.
the grayest part of the 3D modeling/printing aspect is that once the model is created, it can easily be reprinted over and over again - but at that point the fault would lie with the modeler/reprinter, not you for commissioning it in the first place. but i wouldn't fault any 3D sculptor for politely declining to do a copy commission, either. I just think you would be okay legally in the situation you described.
So yeah, don't be afraid of this at all, is what I'm saying. Especially as a one of a kind project.
Also, who were you looking to commission? I do have a recommendation, but they are definitely pricey, depending on what you want! Let me know!
I get what you're saying. For the most part, all the responses help in narrowing down how I should properly "TAG" the personalized commissioned piece when I do plan to get it.
But there is one case where they will hunt you down and break your legs is if you do any kind of custom car, and name it "Eleanor."
I got you though. I'm kosher with the 'technically ok'
You’re not mass producing garage kits for the figurines. Also unless you had the master file to begin with, I don’t think you’d be able to 100% replicate the original figurines anyway. I would tag it as a fan made figurine for your personal collection!
If you tried mass-producing them or implied (through words, actions, or inaction) that they were official products then you would probably get stopped too.
But yeah, if you commission a single figure, it would be considered fanart in the same way commissioning a drawing would be.
People making things for themselves and not selling any of it would be just fine.
So you wanting to buy something that is copyrighted is not technically illegal, the person selling it is doing something illegal.
This hasn't stopped anyone in a long time, let alone all the Pokémon, Digimon and whatnot being sold on here. Sometimes it's aggravating that people are taking the easy route to money, and other times it's nice that there's more than just corp stuff out there to have on your shelves.
- A work being original does not exempt it from copyright if it uses unowned IP.
- A work being "transformative" of the original is only one of a couple conditions that need to be met, among of which include that you can't be using it for financial gain and it cannot be a direct copy.
- Most people here seem to think that fanart is exempt simply because it is fanart. It is not. Fanart of any kind is, in fact, illegal under copyright law unless you have permission from the IP owner.
Here's the deal:
"Fanart," or its associated mediums, are technically illegal. It is the unlawful use of someone else's IP (almost always) without permission. The reason you see so much fanart ignoring this, however, is because it's virtually unenforceable and US copyright law is a pile of trash.
People don't get in trouble for copyright most of the time because it slides into the zone of "it's not worth the time." Copyright IP infringement through fanart is so widespread that it is not worth the time to pursue people doing it unless there is money to be made off of it. Copyright law is really gray, and unless you can prove someone is clearly benefitting off of your original IP financially, you will not be able to get them in trouble for it, much less make money back from the damages (you have to prove damages in some way or another).
The real danger here is not with you, but with who you commission. They would be the ones actually infringing upon copyright laws, and they are the ones making financial gain from the use of owned IP. It is almost impossible for you to get in trouble for commissioning someone to make you a model.
The reality is, however, that no one will ever know and no one will ever care. Stuff like what you desire is amongst hundreds of thousands of other financially-influenced infringements of copyright law, and hardly worth the time to pursue. You and the person you commission are virtually guaranteed to get off scot-free. That being said, what you plan on doing is technically illegal in terms of copyright, and "no one will care" is not a great reason to ignore it. But as I mentioned before, everyone else does it because the law itself is very poor and doesn't do it's job. People literally pawn off artwork of tons of copyrighted IP from major IP holders (Marvel, anime, etc.) and don't even get noticed.
It's up to you what you choose, but know that A) what you're doing is illegal, as it is a use of IP--NOT transformative, the artist does NOT own the IP, it is for financial gain--B) you and the artist will definitely not get in trouble for it--it is not worth the time or image to pursue legal action over such small situations, C) if you DO get in trouble (which won't happen), you are not the one who can get punished, and D) no one actually gives a shit and people ignore copyright law for a reason (because it's garbage and doesn't work correctly).
It's kinda similar to seeing a picture you love but the artist isn't offering any prints, so you save it and print it at a copyshop as a print for your room. It's not being sold for mass market and falls under the category of private use.
Companies will often strike deals with outside companies to produce figures, they are 'loaned the rights' for a share of the profits.
That said, I don't think what you want to do would fall under fair use as it is not "transformative" if its made to be modeled as a duplicate of an existing for sale figure.
But I ALSO want to say, that the parent company probably wont care, anymore than they care about people posting fanart.
As in: if someone were to make a clay figurine of said character, that falls under a fanwork. Therefore, I feel like what you want to do is in that SAME category of fanwork,a ssuming you have a custom pose made for it.
You arent attempting to make a profit off of said project, its for personal use and enjoyment. So I want to say that its fine. Fan art is already in a grey area at any rate. and I think Matpat did a video explaining with various examples of how stuff could violate copyrights etc. for.. SCP stuff. xD
The short answer is, you can probably find someone to take a commission. It's an infringement like any other fan art (assuming the character isn't in the public domain, of course), but if you're not flaunting it all over the internet, the chances of the rights-holders finding out are slim. Even if they did, some wouldn't care.
There are exceptions, of course. Disney is notoriously stringent about use of their characters and have done things like gone after daycares that painted Mickey and Donald on their walls.
If what you want is an exact copy of a commercial figure, the makers of that figure might be more motivated to go after you than the people who hold the rights to the character, but it's still essentially the same deal. It's not typically worth it to take you to court over it unless you're in some way profiting from it. (This is where people get the idea "it's okay if you're not making money on it." It isn't, but most rights-holders don't find it worth enforcing if you're not making money on it. Court is expensive.)
Even if someone does follow up, it's likely you'll just get a cease & desist letter.