Sirius bizniss.

[azurite]

Okay, fanits, a note:

If you find a beautiful fanart on Google Images (or wherever!)and decide to use it for your FanLib story image, GIVE CREDIT TO THE ORIGINAL ARTIST. It's easier than it sounds. See, all you have to do is click on that lovely link that says "Original Webpage" and then you can see if the page says something like "My Fanart, (c) 2008 by Your Name Here" or something else, like "by Jane Doe, (c) 2007." The best thing to do is ask Jane if you can use her artwork on your story-- ask via email, if you can find one, or other contact messages left in the web page, like an IM name or a LiveJournal link where you can PM them.

If you can't find such a thing and/or you're too gung-ho and use the image anyway, at least provide the name and URL of the original page where you got it somewhere in your Author's Notes. Seriously, IT'S NOT THAT HARD.

This concept of crediting the people who originally create something is not NEW. People have been using disclaimers to supposedly fend off hoards of evil lawyers frothing at the mouth for decades. Disclaimers don't really stop lawyers from issuing C&Ds if they feel like it, but it's very nice to know that some people care that fanfiction or fanart means just that: it's FAN-created, not wholly original, and has its roots in someone else's work. It's nice to credit that someone who inspired you so, don't you think?

The same concept applies to fic and art: would you like it if someone took YOUR fic or YOUR art and put it up somewhere else. Wouldn't you like them to at least mention your name and where they got it from, even if they didn't ask you originally?

I'm not talking about out-and-out plagiarists here, who take things like art and stories and pretend that said creations are theirs. But technically, if you don't SAY something isn't yours, you're NOT claiming that it isn't. Thus, if you use someone else's art and don't credit them, you're stealing. You're "plagiarizing" their work. And not only is that not nice, it can get you seriously fucked up the ass in fandom. Especially defensive fandoms who really love their fellow fen.

I'd say Yu-Gi-Oh is definitely one of them. We may have splinter groups of people who either don't know the BNFs of one area or another (or if they do, they don't know enough to care, which is fine; it's like that in a lot of fandoms), but that doesn't mean you mess with the people who ARE close friends with one another.

I'm just hoping this (because this IS a real situation, and this is a real "letter" to someone who will probably never read it) will blow over quickly and easily, without any whining. FanLib's far from being perfect, but they do have at least a system in place for reporting people that use images or stories without authorization. They also seem to respond faster than FFnet does (which means they actually respond AT ALL).

Another note: There is no such thing as Yu-Gi-Oh Season 0. There is also no such thing as Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Shadow Games. If you spent a split second looking at the freaking ORIGINAL a.k.a. Toei series, you would realize a few things:
(1) It is based off the early manga, therefore it is much more violent, uses different wording for many things, and different colors, characters, and much, much more.
(2) It has no subtitle. It is simply "Yu-Gi-Oh." PERIOD. END OF STORY.
(3) There is no such thing as a "Season 0" for any show. There are unaired pilots, cut episodes, deleted scenes, etc., but there is no Season 0.

A completely different studio released a completely different SERIES of Yu-Gi-Oh, before the creation of the show that we all know and typically recognize as "Yu-Gi-Oh!" Said show has never been (and plans have never been announced so that it will ever be) released outside Japan. It will probably NEVER be officially licensed and dubbed into English, at least not by any of the current license holders. It has NO CONNECTION WHATSOEVER to the show we call "Yu-Gi-Oh!" other than in name and via a few characters. The show that got licensed and dubbed all across the globe, the series that led to the spinoffs/sequels GX and 5D's, the show that inspired the Yu-Gi-Oh OCG and eventually the TCG is called Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters. The spin-off is Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters GX.

The only animated show that does not have "Duel Monsters" in its title is the newest, 5D's, and that's not because they don't play Duel Monsters (they do!), but because it's been over a DECADE since the start of the second series animation, so most people have long since stopped associating Yu-Gi-Oh! (the Toei series) with the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise as a whole.

STOP CALLING TOEI'S YU-GI-OH! SERIES EITHER OF THESE TITLES. THEY ARE WRONG AND ONLY SERVE TO CONFUSE PEOPLE UNNECESSARILY. Call it what it is: Toei's Yu-Gi-Oh. PERIOD. It's FOUR freakin' letters, and not that hard to remember.

That is all. Move along, move along.

Comments

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

Er, just so you know:

If you put someone's original art on your webpage, even with credit, it's illegal. Fanart is in a grayer area, but it's still ethically (and possibly legally) iffy to "borrow" it without permission.

I'd leave it at "Ask for permission, and if they say no or don't answer, content yourself with a link."

[azurite]

I wasn't talking about original art, I was talking about fanart. Fan-anything is tenuous ground as it is, because the fans that exert so much effort to make stunning art/fiction/etc. that technically they're not supposed to profit from, because they don't "own" the characters. And how does one "accurately" determine the cost of something like materials, if that's the only thing someone can charge for (e.g. not for labor, profits, etc.)

I don't support the idea of lifting fanart without asking-- I highly encourage asking, in fact, but I've come across so many scenarios of people who claim they're in a rush, too lazy, firewalled or otherwise blocked, etc. And for those situations, if the people MUST have the art and "can't" ask, I'd much rather they bother to link back than just take it without any mention of where they got it or who they got it from at all.

The thing is, technically any fan that uses "original art" (e.g. from an anime series, manga, etc.) is breaking the law-- but because websites and cross-pollination tends to promote than it does to harm, I think that's why many original artists don't go after website owners and other fans.

Some do, of course, so it's not like I can speak across the whole spectrum, but at least from my perspective as a fan, it does the original artist more good than harm; it's how I discovered a ton of now-favorite artists and series.

[loqia.livejournal.com]

Fan-anything is tenuous ground as it is

Actually, no. The matter in debate with fanart -- at least in respect to this conversation -- is who owns the Right of Reproduction; is it the artist, the copyright holder of the source material, no-one or someone else entirely. That's the so-called 'grey area'.

Either way, the copyright on the work is still not owned by the person using the fanart. Unless they have explicit permission from the copyright holder that they are permitted to reproduce the artwork, they aren't. Crediting is a courtesy, but strictly speaking it's still an unlawful reproduction of the work.

[azurite]

There is no disagreement here: what I was saying was meant to be what you were saying, I just think we opted to use different phrasing. I'm of the mind that when it gets down to it, the copyright holder has the final say-so, even if a fan slaves over a fanart. Example: I draw a fanart of some characters from Yu-Gi-Oh. Kazuki Takahashi either likes it or doesn't like it; if he doesn't want me to show my fanart on the web, reproduce it on shirts or prints or whatever, I listen to him. I wouldn't claim to "own" the art, even if I'd spent hours creating it, because there would be NO art without his original creation (the Yu-Gi-Oh characters). I would never claim to own "rights" over any of that stuff; I respect the original artists.

However, since no artists that I'm aware of have come down with C&Ds or lawsuits or whatever against fanartists or fanficcers or anyone in that realm, I think the proper thing to do is disclaim, whenever possible: make it clear that you don't profit by the work's distribution, and the work is only for entertainment. Make it clear that you didn't create the characters/story in question, but you lent your own imagination and ability and created something derivative for other fans who enjoy the same thing as you do.

It has no weight in court, of course, but at least it's a pacifying effort for any creators who might waver between the thinking that derivative works damage the sale potential of the original and those that know better (yes, I'm biased).

[elf]

Here from metafandom

Nobody "owns" characters. People have control of the right to use various literary/artistic devices; images, including "character" images, can also be trademarked as representative of a particular company.

But the ideas themselves... laws don't control those.

technically any fan that uses "original art" (e.g. from an anime series, manga, etc.) is breaking the law

Not entirely. Not if it's used for commentary or critique, and if one considers fanfiction to be a form of commentary--"here's what these characters might act like if they were in love" or "this is my interpretation of what happened immediately after this scene faded to black"--then use of the art is fair use.

I think that's why many original artists don't go after website owners and other fans

I think they don't go after fans because they can't win... because it is entirely possible that the four factors system of establishing fair use considers "does it cost the original owner money" so much that there's no way noncommercial fan use is unfair. Note that Google won their case about Google images--they can "steal" images from other sites, and show them in thumbnail form.

That said (copyright is complicated law), getting permission for use of fanart is much preferred, and credit/link helps establish goodwill but is not the same, is not a reasonable substitute.

There are plenty of fanartists whose attitude is "use my stuff? SURE! Attach my name and make me famous on teh intarwebs yaay!" But there are others who want their viewers to visit their own website, or don't want their art associated with stories they'd dislike, or don't want it hosted on some websites. (Potentially including ad-supported ones; some artists are very touchy about *any* commercial use of their works.)

Knowing those opinions exist, and they're not at all rare in fandom, it's unethical to encourage people to take half-measures so they won't feel guilty.

People wanting to use fanart should either contact the artist and get permission... or grab without permission, and admit they're going against the artists' wishes. Giving credit doesn't ameliorate that.

I'd much rather they bother to link back than just take it without any mention of where they got it or who they got it from at all.

Me too... but mostly so I've got the chance to contact the artist and say, "hey, did you know your stuff is being used over here? Are you cool with that?"

[azurite]

Wow, I've been metafandom'd.

Basically, I think we agree (assuming I'm reading your comment right). I'm not a fanartist myself (at least not much of one, in comparison to many of my friends), so when I see my FRIENDS' stuff posted without credit, that's when I get into a tiff.

That's actually what inspired this whole post. Someone on FanLib used a friend of mine's art, but there was no credit anywhere saying that it was by this person, obtained from this website, etc. In other words, nothing to indicate that the art -which was clearly fanart, and not, for example, a manipulation that was so well done you couldn't tell if it was the original series art or not- wasn't the work of the author of the story.

It took me all of five minutes to PM the author and ask her if she'd credited it somewhere and I just wasn't seeing, and if she knew that the art belonged to so-and-so, whose page could be found at this address... Of course, her reply was better than others I've had in the past; she kindly put the credit there without hesitation, but I know other people that wouldn't do that. And technically, the credit doesn't really "ameliorate" the situation, as you said; it's entirely possible that my friend doesn't know her art's being used here, on FanLib, by this author for this story. She might not approve, and even if the characters aren't hers, the art is, and shouldn't she have some say over how it gets distributed, even if it is not-for-profit over the great wide Intarwebz?

Hence me being a bit torn on the issue. I think credit should be given where credit's due, but the best case scenario is to always ask, rather than assume. It really sickened me once when one person claimed that them distributing the art in such a way was simply encouraging enjoyment of the pairing the art featured-- but I saw that as a bit underhanded, since the artist wasn't credited. Shouldn't people get the chance to discover other fanartists by knowing who creates the art that's used to supplement fics, or in AMVs/slideshows?

Copyright law isn't the only thing that's complicated; the minds of fans are, too.

[neutralalienist.livejournal.com]

Here from metafandom, and I never understood why it was so difficult to credit someone for their work.

I've made fanart icons, but I always check to see the author's status on it, and I always credit. It's just polite.

Is common courtesy too much to - oh.

Right.