How about a Fandom Commons license?
Mar. 1st, 2010 12:29 amOne of my LJ friends,
flemco, has a lot of contempt for fan artists (and some pros) who make money in artist's alleys at conventions selling prints and commissions of their artwork featuring characters created by other people.
Although I can definitely see his viewpoint, and share a bit of it, I believe there isn't any major harm done in such cases. To me artists drawing, for example, Mario and Luigi as Cosa Nostra Italians represent both fans commenting on the original, and a demonstration of love for that same original. It also represents an investment in the future- perhaps, just perhaps, creations that fans love enough to commission or create such works will survive and evolve long after their creators leave the work- or this world- behind.
But, of course, there are dangers, as well- as Gene Simmons' kid demonstrated, basically scraping the serial numbers off Bleach and claiming it as his original comic- and publishing several issues before getting caught.
So... wouldn't it be better to have a standardized license in place, sort of like the Creative Commons license, that allows creators or copyright holders to protect their interests while at the same time letting fans have fun?
So here's what I think such a license should contain- and these, incidentally, are the ground rules for fan art, commissions, etc. of WLP characters:
(1) The characters are made available to fans for the purpose of creating derivative works for their own pleasure and enjoyment, or for the commissioning of such works on a work-for-hire basis from other creators.
(2) No such works should be mass-produced and sold or published for profit, or mass-marketed for any purpose.
(3) All such works made available to the general public must be made public with the following conditions: (a) no profit is realized from the publication or distribution of the derivative work; (b) the original creators of the characters are given full credit, and the creators of the derivative work disclaim any ownership of those characters; and (c) the original creators are made aware of the existence of the work and how to see it for themselves.
(4) The creators reserve the right to revoke this license either in general or to specific individuals or works, without notice, warning, or reason given; this right is reserved for the purpose of defending the trademark of the characters against abuse of this license, abuse of the characters, or usage either damaging to the original creation, damaging to the creators, or weakening the strength of the trademark characters involved.
(Or, to put it short: don't claim you own the characters, don't make money off of 'em (except for commissioned artwork), give the creators credit, let the creators know, and don't be a dick.)
Does such a license already exist? (I thought one might, but I can't recall specifics.)
Does anything need to be added to the basic points?
And would this license help or hurt both creators and fans?
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Although I can definitely see his viewpoint, and share a bit of it, I believe there isn't any major harm done in such cases. To me artists drawing, for example, Mario and Luigi as Cosa Nostra Italians represent both fans commenting on the original, and a demonstration of love for that same original. It also represents an investment in the future- perhaps, just perhaps, creations that fans love enough to commission or create such works will survive and evolve long after their creators leave the work- or this world- behind.
But, of course, there are dangers, as well- as Gene Simmons' kid demonstrated, basically scraping the serial numbers off Bleach and claiming it as his original comic- and publishing several issues before getting caught.
So... wouldn't it be better to have a standardized license in place, sort of like the Creative Commons license, that allows creators or copyright holders to protect their interests while at the same time letting fans have fun?
So here's what I think such a license should contain- and these, incidentally, are the ground rules for fan art, commissions, etc. of WLP characters:
(1) The characters are made available to fans for the purpose of creating derivative works for their own pleasure and enjoyment, or for the commissioning of such works on a work-for-hire basis from other creators.
(2) No such works should be mass-produced and sold or published for profit, or mass-marketed for any purpose.
(3) All such works made available to the general public must be made public with the following conditions: (a) no profit is realized from the publication or distribution of the derivative work; (b) the original creators of the characters are given full credit, and the creators of the derivative work disclaim any ownership of those characters; and (c) the original creators are made aware of the existence of the work and how to see it for themselves.
(4) The creators reserve the right to revoke this license either in general or to specific individuals or works, without notice, warning, or reason given; this right is reserved for the purpose of defending the trademark of the characters against abuse of this license, abuse of the characters, or usage either damaging to the original creation, damaging to the creators, or weakening the strength of the trademark characters involved.
(Or, to put it short: don't claim you own the characters, don't make money off of 'em (except for commissioned artwork), give the creators credit, let the creators know, and don't be a dick.)
Does such a license already exist? (I thought one might, but I can't recall specifics.)
Does anything need to be added to the basic points?
And would this license help or hurt both creators and fans?