Putting Anime Characters On T-Shirt Designs (Copyright Explained)
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- Опубліковано 27 сер 2024
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Is it OK to put anime characters on your t-shirt designs?
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I'm Greg Preece, a UA-camr based out of the United Kingdom. I make videos to help UA-camrs build consistent and automated income systems from their UA-cam channels. I share what I learn from selling my own digital products and services as a UA-camr myself. I also study the creator economy and interview UA-camrs to show what business models UA-camrs are currently using to create automated income from their UA-cam videos.
I see a lot of artist on UA-cam or twitch who draw anime characters for cash, and even more artist on Etsy and redbubble selling anime work. How are they not in trouble? I feel like it’s the norm to use anime characters for profit nowadays
What if you do a line-art of the character, and it doesn’t look exactly the same
Then i think that's okay?
I was going to use an Anime girl in my new vaporwave shirt however since I saw this video I am going to just get a design off of Fiverr instead.
If anyone could give me their input on my dilemma, your advice is appreciated.
:)
I want to start a small business selling “fan designed” anime fashion to contribute pride and confidence to the anime community. It’s not just about making some extra money from a side hustle. I want to expand the anime fashion experience, so fans can be proud to express anime culture.
I don’t want to “drop-ship” shirts that are already made. I want to design my own graphics in my own art style/theme. I don’t condone in art theft, so I’ll never steal official art works and slap it on a shirt. And I, of course, won’t claim the character or show they come from.
I was so excited to start planning out this business and getting around to design some clothes, but these copyright laws are preventing me from doing so. I don’t want to waste time, energy, and money solidifying my business only to risk getting sued for copyright infringement in the future.
I’ve recently started thinking about copyright laws surrounding selling anime merchandise, so I’m quite ignorant on this matter. I know the straightforward answer would be: just don’t do it. But I want to give back to the community I grew up in. And share my fashion and art to people who will appreciate it.
My research on this matter has been fruitless.
Most results say to reach out to the companies/owners of the anime to gain permissions to use the assumed-copyrighted-characters. But that’s usually to resell (drop-ship) merchandise from other stores.
And other results talk about the legality of selling fanart. Which, in a way, has some relevance to my problem. But it still isn’t really helpful since an art print is obviously different than a shirt or hoodie.
How are these other small online businesses selling their “hand designed” merch without getting sued for copyright infringement? (Ex: HYPLAND, Sugoi Mode, etc.) I know that these businesses don’t need to prove that they have a license to sell their anime merch, but still...
You’ve made it to the end of my comment. Thank you so much for taking the time to read it. Your help, input, and advice is gratefully appreciated.
In the same boat here, I’m still reading on all the copyright and legal issues.
If you ever found out any helpful information about this please lmk in the same boat
same@@quaneliusminter6877
So I’ve been seeing a LOT of T-shirt’s with pages from mangas on them. Did they get permission or did they just redraw everything?
They steal them. It's plagiarism.
even if you redraw doesn't change completely anything
Why don't they get punished
Just not big enough to be noticed and caught
How about when dropshipping products that are t-shirts with anime characters on them?
Comment is a little late but you can only ship them if you verified the seller has a licence to legally produce them. If they don't have that you are also responsible for copyright infringement.
I want to start an Etsy shop creating paintings of anime characters on glass and framing them with led’s so they light up, would that be okay I do the painting and design myself first on my iPad and then print it out and trace it
This comment is probably a little late but I will still place it for any1 seeing this in the future.
1) No this is still copyright infringement.
2) You probably won't get in trouble since Etsy businesses are mosly small businesses and not really anything to be taken seriously by the big anime/manga companies.
@@Natashaart2 you can if it is an original charracter. Else it is still copyright infringement.
what if they are hand drawn? Like not an exact replica but your own take on the character in their own way
Good question i'm on the same boat
Still illegal you technically stole their products it's like making the products of an other entrepreneur
@@williamluche417 then fanart should be illegal to
there is a way around it if you search for public domain all have commercial licence which means ur free to do what ever u want with them all public domain can be even claimed by you and branded as ur own
and tweek them
there is also software thts lets u design ur own
Hi there, could you help inform me on more ways around this? I am quite worried about getting around copyright infringement. How do I search for public domains with commercial licenses ?
Wait can you tell me more about this? I'm currently in process of starting a business, but I want to sell anime/manga cases and shirts, even but I don't want to get in trouble, you know?
There are so many anime t-shirts online, why are they not shut down?
Could you cover how we could find anime character designs that are part of public domain or free use
THIS please. because I know ive seen people use anime characters on merch OFTEN and i cant imagine they are all stealing it, so what is the legal way to use anime on your products?
@@juslik98 they actually all steal it, lol 😂 maybe 1 in a 100 sellers actually got permission but mostly because they got huge already
@@panchosmex7242 omg! Lol I guess that isn't TOO surprising
Copyrighted content only enters the public domain in 2 ways
1) it is owned by a company and more than 70 years old
2) it is owned by an individual and he/she died more than 70 years ago
So you're probably only going to find black and white classic looking anime in the public domain, nothing modern.
I see a lot of people make stickers based on anime and then sell them based on popular anime. I'm sure its not legal but how are they getting away with it are they just risking it?
Just risking it. The anime company would have to file a lawsuit against an unknown company and would have to pay thousands of dollars to try to take down a company that's really just promoting their anime at the end of the day. Think about it.
@@warrior4958 Exactly. They don't react until there's a lot of money involved. Few bucks isn't worth their time and money.
Ibrahima Ndiaye I’m tryna make a shirt of zerotwo and it’s actually kinda wanted so I guess I’m risking how do I still continue without risking?
@@bruuhblackboih8777 You literally cant after doing research the only way would be to go to the anime copyright holder and work out a deal with them however, for them to actually care enough to sue you, you would need to be making millions off of it which im sure wont be the case.
@@YoungMantv the question is, how are doujin artists able to get away with it? They're not official, and they go up for sale...
But in india people are selling on their websites print on demand anime characters for a very long time and nothing happened to them, in fact they are making lots of money
How would I go about asking them if I could use their designs?
They don't give out licences to small sellers so unless you have big pockets (like multiple million dollar big pockets) you're probably in bad luck.
@@grols where is your knowledge comin from , i mean it doesnt make sense to not give license to small sellers , in most of the countries in europe the anime culture is just started to gettin common so its their only choice to get profit dealing with small sellers, otherwise the big companies not giving enough attention yet for these kind of products.İ might be totally wrong but its what i m thinkin from my point of view at least.
Hi, I have a question. I was thinking of starting an anime merchandise business. I was inspired to do so because I purchased a hoodie with an attack on Titan design on it. They sell on shopify, also I assume their art is their own since I couldn’t find that design anywhere on the web. So is it illegal to sell merchandise with stolen art and legal to sell it with personalized art? Or is it illegal either way since it’s based on an anime.
Bro did u got the answer even I started but don't know if it's legal ???
Please could you make a video covering FREE ways to promote T Shirts?
I use IG and FaceBook but am struggling to find potential customers without a budget
-Ste
Hey Ste. I made a video a few weeks ago. Go back and check it out!
Question. How do sites like Teefury and Ript and Teepublic avoid these lawsuits or copyright infringements when their sites are full with shirts that copy character from anime to 90's cartoons
That’s a really great question 🤔
Maybe they have the license
(I'm not a seller), but I am kind of curious... |let's say I make a drawing of Naruto, can I put it on a shirt and sell it legally?| What about anime/manga doujins?
I wanna know too 😭
How about if i make Naruto fanart painted or drawn on a canvas or a paper and sell it in my place/neighbor only, is it still illegal? I wanna know
Hmm then there is no problem unless until you are selling it in large quantity. friends and nearby to someone is fine
Gregg, need your quick opinion! I want to use a nickname of a celebrity, it is not trademarked, but is that using the likeness of that person if that nickname is associated with that person. For example: King Of Pop, for MJ ( in this case this is copyrighted, but image it wasn't) thanks in advance!
Stevan Terzic hey dude. Sorry for the delayed reply. I would advise against it really. I’d say it potentially a copyright issue (not trademark)
Yeah I just wanna learn how to position OCs onto shirts and make them look good....
then how the hell do so many brands use anime on there shirts?
Then how Does hypeland do it?
Right
I think they label most of their drops as collaborations with the anime like they did with bleach. I’m sure at how big they are, they’ve worked towards an agreement with the Anime.
So basically most if not all the anime merch we see online like Instagram stores are not legal lmaoooooooo this is sad cause I want to make anime merch for sale so bad but I don't wanna get in trouble for it
Does it matter if I just use like half of it like I take away the eye and just match it with other stuff like a collage... is that okay ?
Only if you draw it yourself and advertise it as an original character and not as the character from the anime.
So your telling me EVERY SINGLE one of the artists at anime con/comic on/ any cons have permission to sell their artworks?? 😧
Nicole Gomez Yep! Everyone of them!
@@GregPreece not sure if youre being sarcastic but i actually just spoke to an artist who sells their stuff at comic con and she said not all of them do and what she does, is considered a "parody" so she doesnt need to get official permission for hers.
Nicole Gomez It’s probably a lot easier to sell custom merch at cons, as it likely isn’t publicly available on the web. Unless someone was anti fair use and tried to report it. Copyright is an enigma.
Is it illegal to make a anime t shirt for my own use?
So is it legal for me to just like draw a picture of some anime caracther and Then put The image i drew on a tshirt
If it’s yours of course
cozy hudson Aldi if i drab like rem pr somthing
@@milashansen1497 no, it will be illegal even if you drew it yourself.
@@ruhailali7317 ok
are you allowed to use a manga panel? even if for personal use? I'm Selling the product at all
I draw characters from different mangas on clothes. They are all handmade, but look exactly like the originals. Is that illegal then?
Crunk1979 that’s what I want to know
I am no expert but I assume there would need to be a high level of difference from the OC.
I want to know this too
you can, just never sell it as "official"
But if you draw those characters your self?
Aww.. so even if I draw a fanart of an anime character it will still be elligal to sell it (pressprinting)?
Yeah. Unfortunately it would ;-; Cause it’s illegal to sell apparel with someone else’s copyrighted characters.
Greg im sorry to say Yes its Okay to use it on T-shirt , because we do that mean more people will know there is an anime that has this cute/funny/comdey..etc character in this anime and that will support the anime/manga artist as well , more people know that mean more support to the anime and artist and im already selling it and there is no issue , but im talking only about the not popular anime that is, but there is maybe a couple of them that are not okay to use , but im not sure 100% , so yeah its okay to use cuz there is tons of people who use anime manga character and still didnt removed at all !!
That someone else is doing it doesn't mean it's okay to use it hahaha. You're 100% WRONG. All the ones that are already doing it are incredebily lucky that the Anime producing companies are not pursueing them actively and legally. The most known exception is The Pokemon Copany. They pay people to browse the web for copyrighted products and shut the seller down. Other anime makers don't have the money and time to do the same so that's why you're likely to find a lot of anime characters on products without a problem. But it's still copyright and NOT okay to use them.
@@thespector8587 oh well if you say so , thats your opinion , but to me its actually help the anime and artist to get support from the people who buy shirts or anything else about it !!
@@compact33ala and explain to me how you're "supporting" the artist by putting their copyrighted material on shirts?
@@thespector8587 if customers buying this t-shirt that has anime title on it , they will go and check on it and then they may start supporting this anime lets say light novel , they may go and buy it , maybe they will share their idea about it to everyone who read Light Novel , there is alot of possibilities , its your choice if you dont support or not , its better if people know about this anime then getting disappear forever because there is alot of it , which is sux!!
@@compact33ala the world doesn't work like that. I don't look up an anime because I spend money on a t-shirt with a design I don't know...I look up anime because I was looking online on forums, netflix, crunchy roll, recommendation by friend etc. Definitely NOT on a store. I'm not here to report you to the police or something, I just want to make clear that it's NEVER....EVER(!) okay to use copyrighted material...EVER!! It's not discussable. It's not okay, full stop. No "but...", no "I support the anime maker..." no "the customer may look it up...". Unless you have an agreement with the anime artist to compensate him for each sale you make, you CAN'T use their characters on a shirt. You really need to understand that. I almost got sued because of copyright. I learned my lesson. DON'T DO IT if you know you're doing something risky.
So if say I wanted to do naruto what if I fused a naruto character with an among us character this new creation would be my own creation but are related to something is that still illegal... like how much do I haft to change befor it’s counted as my own
Is it okay if it s an anime reference ?not a drawing?
I would say, it probably depends.... in that case, you would want to check if the phrase has been trademarked
Awesome video man, have you trademark or copyright any of your materials yet if so what is the cost
Not yet. There's a video coming out this week on that topic, the price and when the right time is to get a trademark Dwight
In India some manufacturing company sell comic printed t-shirt in very less price around $1, I don't get it, why aren't they getting any copyright issue or people don't complaint this?
I was thinking of making n selling anime merch too but i guess i l just sell my own designs
@@eefonix6274 i think that's a good idea far away from any trouble, i will do the same
@@kartik_n7302 do you draw? Wanna collab in future?
@@eefonix6274 I'm not pro, but can do my best.. what about u?
@@kartik_n7302 medium level.. Msg me on insta.. I have few plans maybe you can make money out of it too... Search " eefonix"
I am doing Anime characters and hiring artist to do them for me, original ones and we have done a few parodies which I hope would be ok? but we mostly do new original characters since I do not want to drag my business down, great video and great content :)
You will absolutely be OK with the original work. The parodies, I can't make any guarantees unfortunately...
@@GregPreece Thanks I will be careful making parodies of any Anime series, I know many POD sites will not print copyrighted material
Greg Preece - Start Starting Up so as long as i am the one who draws the anime character myself it’s okey?! did i understand that correctly
So if I personally make a design related to the character not the full actual character something like there sword or weapon or maybe what they usually wear.can I still sell it I want to sell merchandise for the anime I love but all I see is one piece naruto etc garbage stuff. I want to make a shirt company that makes the most recent anime shirts but at limited supply and sell them at cons. Also with great quality shirt when I them at shirts they’re always too small I’m a tall skinny guy.... anyway
@@GregPreece
Can you sell posters?
Can i use wallpapers?
what if it's a minor character?
interesting. hmm, so all of those famous Instagram seller who sells anime art, peekers, and anime related goodies, are breaking the law then?.. how are so many people able to keep on doing it? fill me in someone, haha.
Because filing a lawsuit would cost them a lot of money and isn't worth it anyways. At the end of the day, it's free promo for them
Can i make anime stickers\decals and sell them?
Thats wjat i wanna know too...