Fan Art & Copyright Questions
Dearest Howlers,
We love your unique perspectives, fan art and the energy behind it. We see ourselves as deeply indebted to the Violets who have created so much amazing art since Red Rising first came out, and we have no interest in penny pinching or turning into annoying Copper bureaucrats sniffing the interwebs for offending Violets.
In the past, we have been more than happy to see some of the official Red Rising artwork online and actually out in the world! That said, now that we have launched our own official merch line via Shit-Escalates.com, we are trying to grow that market so that we can collaborate with more Violets and create more badass merchandise for Howlers all over the world. This means that we cannot turn a blind eye to folks who do not use their original work and are taking Joel’s official sigil designs or Pierce’s quotes or words and putting them on mugs, t shirts, etc. to sell.
Please see the additional information below (or via link / attached document) that provides more depth information about copyright and fan art. We deeply value all of the contributions that fans and artists of all kinds have made to the Red Rising world and want to make sure that we help grow the fun, excitement, and energy in the fandom rather than squashing it.
We appreciate all of the Red Rising fans understanding how important this is!
- Pierce Brown, Joel Daniel Phillips, & Blair Brown
Creating Red Rising Items
The items must be your original work inspired by the Red Rising world. The items should not be Red Rising Intellectual Property (IP), such as images, phrases, quotes, names, icons, prints, copies, etc. developed by Pierce, Joel (official artist collaborator) or any other artist that helped build the Red Rising world.
This is important for several reasons:
- The Creator owns the copyright to their creations and every time someone else copies something they created, and uses it for profit, they take something away from the Creator. They also affect the Copyright Owner's rights to their own work and negotiations involving those rights are more challenging. For Red Rising this means taking something away from Pierce and Joel and complicating negotiations and opportunities for them.
- We are working hard to move forward with opportunities that will allow us to provide you with top notch Red Rising merchandise.
In a nutshell, the difference between what we are over the moon to see and what constitutes copyright infringement is whether or not it is something that you developed with your own creativity.
We are delighted to see our Violets support themselves by selling original artwork that is inspired by the Red Rising world. It makes us cackle with delight like Sevro after a good brawl, and Joel is always scouting around Etsy and Red Rising fan spaces for Violets cooking up new things that he can officially partner with via Shit Escalates. (If you have a collaboration you’d like to propose, please email him at collab@shit-escalates.com).
On the flip side, simply putting one of the sigils that Joel created, or a quote Pierce wrote, on an item, is just using their work and not creating anything new, and thus - not ok.
What You Need to Know About Copyright:
The original copyright owner is the only one who has exclusive right over their original works. That said, a lot of copyright owners, especially in the entertainment industry, either turn a blind eye to most fan art or outright embrace it. They/we love fan art and the energy behind it!
Examples We DON’T Love:
(We don’t want to name drop, but you get the picture.)
A More Technical/Legal Explanation:
“So, for trademark purposes, a permissible tribute does not attempt to reproduce or recreate any Star Wars logos, or even directly mention the names of trademarked characters. Any references to that galaxy far, far away tends to be indirect and implicit. A tribute can evoke the spirit of Star Wars by hinting at its themes, but it shouldn’t make overt use of any trademarks, which might lead to an implied association. That’s the path to dark side of infringement.” By Brian J. Meli
GOOD Examples:
Licensees: Licensees have a Copyright License Agreement with and pay a fee to the copyright owner. In return, the Licensee receives the legal right to use the copyrighted material (i.e., the “Officially Licensed” seller label). The Licensee has similar rights to the copyright owner - they have the right to protect their license by requesting that sellers take down items that violate their license (i.e. items that do not have a license to the copyrighted material), and to pursue legal action against violators of their copyright if they so choose.
Updates: At this time, due to ongoing negotiations regarding Red Rising rights, there are no Licensee options available. We will share the news in the event that changes. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing your original work.
CURRENT LICENSEES:
Out of Print Tees: Out of Print Tees is the only Officially Licensed Seller of Red Rising T shirts.
Badali Jewelry: Badali is the only officially licensed seller of Red Rising jewelry (including pins).
Stonemaier Games: Stonemaier is the Official Seller of the Red Rising board game.
MORE RESOURCES:
https://postergrind.com/this-is-how-to-sell-fan-art-legally-illegally/
If you ever have questions about any of this, please email us at info@shit-escalates.com.
Contact:
Blair Brown, Arch Judiciar
Joel Daniel Phillips, Master Maker & Chief Violet