Question about fanzines

[OneHappyChap]

I've been seeing a bunch of fanzines for sale around lately and I was wondering... are these legal since they're using artist's own works yet depict characters that don't belong to them? I know Japan allows this type of stuff because they consider it free publicity, but it was to my understanding that this was frowned upon in most other countries. Couldn't find any precise answers on Google and since there's many artists roaming the forums I figured I'd ask here.

[MK_Wizard]

I think it all depends. If it's volunteer work and collaborated with consent, I guess it's ok, but if there's money involved, the stakes are quite different.

[OneHappyChap]

Yup I'm asking about the ones where money is involved as I'm confused about that aspect. Kind of like is selling fan-art posters in conventions allowed actually.

(Also, disclaimer: I'm not trying to call anyone out, I'm honestly just curious as to how this all works.)

[joannekwan]

Most fanzines for western properties I've come across are for charity, it's how they get around the legality issues. So any profit raised during the ordering period would go to a charity the contributors or organizers of the zine pick out. And some others I've seen are completely free.

I've been a part of 3 zines/collabs, 2 for Overwatch for charity, the 3rd is a Japanese property so we get to resell the finished product as well as get paid for our efforts.

[kytri]

I'm coming at this from a US perspective since that's where I am.

If you wanna get super technical no, zines are not legal. It doesn't matter if they're sold for charity or given away or what. Technically all fanart is copyright infringement and the copyright holder is legally allowed to sue you over it.

That said, it's kind of just one of those things that is technically against the law but really unlikely to get you in trouble unless the copyright holder is particularly litigious and even then you'll get a cease and desist before they actually take you to court. For most large media companies the amount it costs to sue a fanartist is way more than whatever money they might get from the lawsuit. Also if you wanna piss off your fanbase suing your fans is a good way to do that. So the majority of companies just kind of let it slide unless someone is running a huge operation or using a trademarked logo or something.

[feardeer]

Just popping in to say I have seen at least one zine organizer ask permission from the original creator before monetizing a fanzine. I'm sure it's not common, but it happens! (Although it may be because the original creator in this particular case is also an indie creator, and indies are usually careful not to step on each other's toes.)

[Raven_C]

That said, it's kind of just one of those things that is technically against the law but really unlikely to get you in trouble unless the copyright holder is particularly litigious and even then you'll get a cease and desist before they actually take you to court. For most large media companies the amount it costs to sue a fanartist is way more than whatever money they might get from the lawsuit.

Pretty much. It's a grey area for sure. I will also add that making fanart and making money out of the creations of an indie creator (as opposed to a large media company) is generally looked down upon in the art community. It hurts indie creators, but it doesn't affect large companies (at least not by any concerning degree)....which is why it's still "okay" to sell fanzines of Pokemon, Zelda, etc. and it's not okay to sell fanzines featuring characters of an indie video game/comic/etc (unless you get the permission of the creator).

[kytri]

Yeah, that's pretty much my stance on selling fanart of any kind. I thought about going into that but felt like I'd probably rambled enough.

[OneHappyChap]

Thanks for your answers @joannekwan @kytri @feardeer @Raven_C , I definitely have a better idea of how this stuff works now, thank you!!