Anime fan art banned in US anime convention

[Jayzilla]

Hey Guys,

I saw this posted on the oztaku forums and thought i would share
 (http://forums.oztaku.com/viewtopic.php?t=2570&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0)

Heres the link for the con in question
http://www.animeiowa.com/cgi-bin/smf/index.php?topic=3365.0

To be honest, I am surpised its taken this long for those owning the rights in America to enforce it.

For those who cant be bothered to click the links, Unamed companies put a lot of pressure on Anime Iowa to remove fan art of copyrighted materials from there convention.

Do you think in a few years this will be common place in Australian conventions

[hazzar565]

It damn well better not! I can't even begin to imagine what would happen to the famous artist alley at all my faourite conventions.

[Afa ◕‿◕]

lol.. i remember this was one of the first things i ever talked about when i first came to this forum..
from wat i was told.. there was just this 'silent truce' between the fans' and artists, that the artist in questions are usually flattered that fans idolise their work so much and that they were once fan-artist just like them

but this... meh

[Sleet]

Well its not a knock against fan art, rather the selling of fan art. In one sense, its making money off of someone else's ideas and designs, and when looking at it like that, you'd have to say the ban makes sense. And whilst it may kill artists alley, it does bring to the fore those who actually do create original work.

[SOO-DA]

NOOOOOOOOOO. I hope.. it never happens in Australia. ~________~;;
Where else am I supposed to buy badges and keyrings?



What I don't get is.. isn't selling fanart the same as selling doujinshi?
If fanart is such a problem, why isn't doujinshi in Japan a problem?
 

[Mithril]

I have a feeling this falls under a pretty grey area. Too lazy to elaborate but I'm sure you guys get the gist of it.

[Jayzilla]

Well, I read an artcicle that was posted here that looked into the difference between american companies and japanese in regards to fanart and doujinshi.

To summarise it, Japanese companies see doujinshi as a way to gauge market interest, ie if FMA is popular at comiket, then it will be popular in general media, ie doujinshi and the like are a form of market research. And annoying the people that buy your stuff is bad. While iillegal in Japan, its not enforced.

On the otherside, american owners of copyright see it as money that is being taken away from offical goods.

[SOO-DA]

Ooooh I see. It's cause the american companies can't use doujinshi for marketing purposes so they just consider fan-related stuff sucking out money from their pool of profit. Japanese producers can use it to their advantage I guess.

I never knew that doujinshi is illegal since it's easy to buy and find. XDD

[<<DoragonessU>>]

It's 'technically' illegal, but companies usually turn a blind eye to it because the market is usually small.... (kind of).

I guess it isn't particularly unreasonable to ban the sales of fanart, but if they do ban something, then I think they should go for something that's more damaging to their industry. When I was searching for the MegaHouse Zero figurine yesterday, I found sites that sell 18+ garage kits. Those ero fan-made garage kits are being sold at various conventions. If America really does want to ban fan-made products, then I think they should start with those, because they pervert the anime series. (And by no means am I saying that fanart don't pervert things. But the stuff that gets sold at conventions are generally not R-rated, so it's not as bad.)

An interesting point someone made was whether cosplaying should be banned. Seeing as how people aren't really 'profiting' from anything, I don't think it will be banned. However if it does, then one thing will lead to another, so soon enough, this anime industry is going to die because people would have no reason to go to conventions anymore.

[VV]

I know that some serialised artists write up doujinshis of their own mangas for promotional purposes *or pleasure hurhur but I digress >: [

Someone from that forum made the point that Australia follow suit, since most of the companies operating here are American. The guidelines so far state that fanart can be displayed but not sold, which to me sounds reasonable since its not really barring artists from showing their goods.

Granted that (I think) the main purpose of anime conventions is to make money, and that people cash in on the work of others all the time (looking at you China), it still isn't very responsible to make money off other people's characters/stories.


*Don't ban cosplay, money isn't being made, and it looks hawt

[SOO-DA]

I don't think they would ban cosplay.

Cause you're right, cosplayers dont profit from their costumes. It'd be the same as displaying fanart since that's allowed.


At first I thought it wouldn't happen in Australia cause we're relatively small and our conventions are nowhere near in comparison to the ones in the States.

[<<DoragonessU>>]

I don't think it would benefit the convention-hosts if they banned fanart because it would mean less participating artists and attendees, however I wouldn't be surprised if it does happen because 'legitimate' companies hold quite a lot of bargaining power.

[Roa]

Probably also a giant culture difference too.  That's why there's the Taiwan vs China thing that probably will never be resolved lol.

Seriously though, it is illegal in Japan, they just choose not to enforce it.  Furthermore, the stuff sold at conventions are a limited run.

[<<DoragonessU>>]

Have they made a definition of what constitutes as 'fanart' yet?

[Jayzilla]

This was the article i was talking about earlier from wired magazine

http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-11/ff_manga?currentPage=all