question about doujinshi and copyright law

[xell]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but this question has been bothering me for a long time.

I know that doujin from japan are sold in Fanime and other convensions, and the original artists are not bothered by it. so are we able to sell our own doujinshi? or is that a violation of copy right law?

I've seen doujinshi boots in fanime and stuff, but somehow we are not allowed to put fan arts in the magazines we sell at school. the teachers say the copyright law prohibits it.

so are we not able to sell our own doujinshi at all? is there a process we need to go through? or we can just sell it like the japanese ones?

[Cowpunk]

This is a bit tricky. Parody is OK by US law, and we are talking trademark law not copyright, so a parody of a work would be fine. However you could still be sued by the rights holder even if they lost. Now trouble is far more likely when the trademark owner is a US company than when it is a Japanese company.

So for example a parody dojinshi using characters from a Disney or Marvel title is not as safe as one from a manga series published in aJapanese magazine like Animal. In fact the editors of Animal may want to buy a copy if they see it.

Now individual cons may have different policies on such publications.

Of course you could just do an original dojinshi, after all that is how Shirow started out with publishing Black Magic.

- Gilles, I think I know what I'm talking about, Poitras

[PyronIkari]

This is a bit tricky. Parody is OK by US law, and we are talking trademark law not copyright, so a parody of a work would be fine. However you could still be sued by the rights holder even if they lost. Now trouble is far more likely when the trademark owner is a US company than when it is a Japanese company.

So for example a parody dojinshi using characters from a Disney or Marvel title is not as safe as one from a manga series published in aJapanese magazine like Animal. In fact the editors of Animal may want to buy a copy if they see it.

Now individual cons may have different policies on such publications.

Of course you could just do an original dojinshi, after all that is how Shirow started out with publishing Black Magic.

- Gilles, I think I know what I'm talking about, Poitras

To expand on this. Most JP artrists don't care and are actually flattered by this, for the most part. The problem is that when you get to America, a lot of the companies DON'T want you doing this. So creating a doujinshi using a series not licensed in the US is legal technically by US law, but you COULD be sued by JP companies. However there's two things to keep in mind.

Most don't care about this but this leads to number 2.

Doujin artists do not make a profit from Doujinshi. The point of doujinshi is to spread and market and is a fanservice in that, they care more about spreading the material than to make money. It's a way to start writing, drawing, and to spread your work without having to go through a professional publishing company, and becoming a real professional. This is probably the big reason why companies don't care about doujinshi as a whole(and that it would be near impossible to stop it in Japan).

In the US, as Mr. Giles said, parody is allowed, but if you aren't parodying and directly using the characters to make doujinshi, you're no longer doing parody and violating copyright.

But for the most part, companies don't matter unless you're making a profit from it. So yeah, if you're just doing doujinshi, and releasing them to just release, then I don't think there will be any trouble(although it is still technically illegal, in the same sense that fansubs of unlicensed anime is illegal, but most companies don't care to bother with this). But if you start making a profit from it and are selling it to make money at all, you're crossing an unspoken line and people WILL care, even if they don't take any real action, according to the level/scale you're doing it.

So I hope that helps, even if there was no concrete info really given.

But, in general none of this applies. I mean... just look at Artists Alley where people sell whatever fanart from whatever series.

[Liquid]

But, in general none of this applies. I mean... just look at Artists Alley where people sell whatever fanart from whatever series.

Pyron's comment here applies to almost all cons. There are artists at Wonder Con (A comic convention for those unaware of it) who sell their own drawings of popular Marvel and DC characters. I always make sure to buy some, because typically they are very well done.