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Otakon Artist Alley is doing something new
Otakon just announced in their forum that they are disallowing the sell of " unlicensed copyrighted materials". Which means you can't sell fanart of utena if you don't have permission. This is kinda neat in that i can get into selling original stuff.
Comments
Now, I love looking at people's art, but I rarely if ever commission things. Most of what I tend to buy are cute/funny fanarts or things that just aren't available in the dealer's room.
I can't imagine Otakon wants to do this. I'll ask around, but I would bet money dealers or companies complained about the competition from AA and are forcing their hand. Bastards.
No fanart. Period. The head of the AA says that they're not banning "fanart," but goes on to say that they're only disallowing "the sale of copyrighted material to which the seller is a.) Not the creator, and/or b.) Does not have license to sell that material."
The policy itself:
" Otakon's Artists Alley will be actively disallowing the sale of unlicensed copyrighted materials. If you own it, you can sell it. If you have license to it, you can sell it. But if it has material (images, sounds, etc.), in whole or in part, to which you DO NOT have permission to sell, then that material will not be allowed in the Artists Alley. Anyone found in violation of this rule loses their retail space in Artists Alley for the remainder of the convention. (The above statement will be officially/legally worded and posted on the site during February, after our lawyer and Otakorp President have approved it.)
5b. Policy for the DISPLAY of unlicensed copyrighted material - provided it is NOT FOR SALE - is currently under review. "
I realized just now that this is going to destroy the art auction/show. I can't think of more than a few original pieces that appeared in it last year: it was almost entirely things that will be banned under this new policy.
Advice from the head of the AA:
"My advice? Unless you KNOW your use of unlicensed copyrighted characters in a work is clearly in the bounds of parody, don't bring it. Use your own characters, designs and imagination to create original works of art. "
Sigh... I'm expecting a fairly barren AA this year...
Though yeah I do agree that artist alley would be barren this year.
Sometimes what I've seen is people directly copying a professional image and selling it as their own, which pisses me off.
I suppose my broad point is that Otakon is definitely going about this the wrong way. A heavy-handed approach will only serve to anger people and weaken the AA. They need to have some finesse.
For example, maybe they should go after only people who duplicate an existing commercial work and try to sell it, but ignore original pieces that are merely based upon or use characters from another property.
Art is like any other media: it cannot be realistically controlled or restricted, and trying to do so artificially will not serve any useful purpose in the long run.
Of course, I'm also of the mind that the mere idea of intellectual property is asinine and outmoded, but that's another argument ;^) Regardless of one's feelings regarding copyright law, it can't be denied that his move by Otakon is going to seriously weaken the AA experience.
I've never noticed a lack of original work at the AA, either. Of course, I can't say how well it sells or doesn't (never having been on that side of a table). But I don't think reducing the amount of fanstuff that can be bought will actually increase the sales of others by a noticeable degree.
Alex, yeah I agree with what you said. I was being hopeful for US doujin-artist.
Scott, I see what you mean about encouragement. Though I think that over in Japan its ok because its understood that you are not supposed to profit from it. I remember reading that somewhere in "Dreamland Japan". Though I think once you start earning money from someone else's designs without permission you start to get flack.
For example, when Weiss Kruz used the character designs from a doujin artist without her permission, they got sued by the doujin artist for not paying her for her designs. Thus Gluhen.
Do you know how ambiguous and hard it would be to enforce that?
Regardless of the rationale, however, this decision is going to have serious remifications. The thread about it in the Otakon forums had to be locked almost immediately. Anime News Network's forums exploded just as fast.
Little protest sites are springing up. People are trying to organize AA boycotts. The staff need to be prepared for the fact that any change of this magnitude is going to generate large amounts of anger, rumour, speculation, and fan reaction.
Otakon seems to be backpedelling a little now. ANN picked up on the story, and Otakon tried to claim that it was untrue and that the policy was still tenative. (Considering that this was all posted under a thread called "Official Changes for Artists Alley - 2006," that's a little shady).
We'll have to wait and see what they do. I'll be attending no matter what, as I love all the other aspects of the con just as much as AA, but I can't say that I'm very excited about an AA where I won't see any fan-art.
One of the manga editors for Dark Horse had this to say:
"I have always received a positive impression of Otakon in the past, and it is my hope that the report of a ban on fan art at the 2006 event is untrue. It is difficult to imagine any single gesture a convention could make that would be more antithetical to the spirit of anime and manga fans. "
I was going through the pile of art and such that I've bought from AA over the years. Of the several dozen pieces I have, not a single one would be allowed under the new policy. I've never purchased a work from a convention that meets Otakon's requirements for exhibition or sale.
To be honest, for the few least years I've been selling fan art.
And secretly I wanted to still be able to sell it again this year.
I say if they want to keep this policy, fine. Then you have to eliminate all cosplay and AMVs too. Better to not be hypocritical.
The real problem I see is with artists who will decide not to come after reading the policy. Even if Otakon states that enforcing this strictly is not a top priority (as per Rachel Ann's post pegging it after 11 other concerns), I forsee many artists with pieces that would likely be overlooked who would be unwilling to risk the possibility that their art would not be allowed.
If a rule exists, regardless of the possible laxer interpretations and/or enforcement of that rule, it will drive many people away.
The current wording effectively bans the bulk of what I've seen in the alley and art show in the past. It's my feeling that, if the rule will be worded so, then it should be enforced as such. If it's not going to be enforced completely as written, then it perhaps should be re-written.
It's dangerous to have a policy in place while at the same time following a set of unwritten rules regarding said policy.
The primary point of contention seems to be the word "actively." "Otakon's Artists Alley will be actively disallowing the sale of unlicensed copyrighted materials."
Traditionally in legal cases involving intellectual property claims, it is the responsibility of the copyright holder to directly make a complaint. A third-party can choose to enforce these rules, but is not obligated to unless provoked (eg, a C&D or formal complaint) or in certain special circumstances. By using the word "actively," Otakon is taking on a responsibility that, in my opinion, is better left to the individual copyright holders themselves.
Saying that "parody" is all right will not, in my opinion, help matters. The legal definition of parody as an IP concept is to this day ill-defined and highly-contended. Without Otakon creating a clear policy regarding EXACTLY what constitutes parody, it's too ephemeral a concept to be uniformly enforced.
Also, (though I note that this is my personal opinion and should not be construed to be legal advice), using the word "actively" opens Otakon itself up to litigation from copyright holders. By stating that you will enforce copyright in this way, it has been argued in many courts that you can then be held responsible for any failure to act. By instead merely stating that you will "immediately address the concerns of any primary copyright holder regarding our Artist's Alley," you remove this exposure to litigation, retain the high-ground regarding "in good faith" statutes, and make these changes far less damaging to the future of the alley.