The purpose of this thread is to compile a list of all items that cannot be sold in the Alley. This way, Artists are well aware of what they can and cannot
sell well before arriving at the con. All of this information will be located in the AA Policy, but I felt it might be good to break it out
here as well. Keep in mind that if you are caught selling stuff that is on the No-No List you will be removed from the Alley.
Feel free to ask questions or add to the list if you find that an item is already licensed.
1. Food. You can be fined by the TCC for selling food. This includes giving away food, water, sodas or candy.
2. Doujinshi/Comics that were not made by you or your group. So, if you have a great collection of doujins that you bought on eBay, you can't sell them in Artist Alley. All doujins/comics must be your own work or the work of your Art Group. Doujinshi dealers belong in the Dealer's Room.
3. Fanfiction. All doujinshi/fanbooks must be at least 85% art. Original fiction is welcomed, though!
4. Art Materials. Artist Alley is for artists, not small businesses. If you are attempting to resell new OR used copics, pens, etc you need to be in the Dealer's Room.
5. Anything "Mass Produced." By law, "mass produced" means anything that has been created in quantities of more than 100. Button makers are allowed, provided you do not make more than 100 of the same pattern.
6. Art that does not belong to you or you don't have WRITTEN permission to sell. Should be self-explanitory. Art thieves are bad. Very bad. In order to verify that you do have permission to sell a friend's artwork, you need permission in writing--with a signature--not just an email.
7. Photomanipulations that are simply screenshots or images of official art. If you want to sell photomanips, the original images must be your own work.
8. Any item that depicts a character created by Disney. Disney has and will go after fans who attempt to profit from their intellectual property.You cannot sell anything--art, prints, keychains, buttons, commissions, whatever--that shows a Disney character. Please remember this doesn't just apply to animated characters! Jack Sparrow and the other PotC characters are Disney property and thus you cannot sell anything that depicts them. (The Square-Enix characters from KH have not yet posed a problem and so we will allow them unless C&D letters are sent) This also includes giving away items with Disney characters on them. No Disney in the Alley. Period.
9. Sex toys of any type. While adult (18+) art is fine provided it is not publically displayed or sold to minors, any sort of sex toy is not allowed to be sold in the alley. Yes, we have had to deal with this before.
10. Adult Art (18+) to a minor. It's illegal. Card people before you sell it. Just say, "Hey, can I see some ID? I can get in a lot of trouble if I sell you this and you aren't 18."
11. Art depicting minors engaged in sexual activity. It's illegal. We're not allowing it and we're not going to turn this into the great LJ-boldout debate about how the characters are really 18 or that we're stupid if we think 16 year old don't have sex.
12. Items that were created with a commerically available pattern. For instance, if you have made a bunch of handbags using a pattern you bought at a sewing shop, we cannot allow you to sell the items since the pattern is copyrighted. If you make your own pattern, that's fine.
13. Any product that is sold with a credit card transaction. If you are at the point in your business where you are accepting credit card payments, you will not be allowed to have a table in the alley. You need to be in the Dealer's Room.
14. Anything you are receiving a commission for selling. If your friend has some art that you printed on a bag and you are selling the bag and then paying your friend for using the art, you do not belong in Artist Alley.
15. Premade merchandise that can be sold as-is without the addition of artwork. We will not allow you to sell a totebag that you have stenciled a line of text or a symbol from an anime/manga/game. This also includes the TITLE of the source material. Therefore, you could not buy a wallet at Wal-Mart, write "Death Note" on it and sell it in Artist Alley.
16. Fan made soundtracks or fan made videos. While welcome on fan websites, these items violate all sorts of copyright laws and cannot be sold or given away in the Alley.
17. Raffles and Lotteries. You cannot "raffle off" or use a "lottery" to sell or give away a goodie (fan made or otherwise) or your art. This violates local gambling laws.
18. Any product that is licensed or a replica of a licensed product. For instance, if you want to make and sell a copy of Yuna's (FF) hair beads or Chii ears, we cannot allow you to sell that in the Alley because it has already been produced and sold by the copyright holder.
Please note, this also applies to jewelry that is based on licensed products. For instance, if you wanted to make earrings of the symbol on Naruto's headband, you could not because of the trademark.
And...it is the Artist's responsibility to make sure the item isn't licensed. If you show up with it and it is licensed, we won't be able to allow you to sell it. Please, please, please check before you put so much work into your goods!
What's Licensed?
Here's a list of some items that are licensed. Feel free to comment with other ones that you know of for other's reference.
**Please note that this list does not mean you cannot make fanmade items like FMA keychains of YOUR fanart. This list is to make you aware that there are items of this sort OFFICIALLY released by the companies. YOUR JOB is to make sure that the items you wish to sell are NOT REPLICAS of the originals in design. So this still means that CHII or PERSOCON EARS or NARUTO HEADBANDS are NOT ALLOWED to be sold at all.**
1. Yuna's hair beads
2. Naruto cosplay items (headbands, gloves, etc)
3. Full Metal Alchemist gloves
4. Chii ears
5. InuYasha plushies
6. FMA keychains
7. Moogle (Final Fantasy) Plushies
8. Kingdom Hearts Figures
9. Suikoden Figures
10. Xenosaga Figures
11. Tales of the Abyss Figures
12. Naruto Figures
13. Bleach Figures
14. Sailor Moon Figures
15. Star Ocean Figures
16. Tales of Symphonia Figures
17. Tales of Phatasia Figures
18. .hack Figures
19. FF12 Figures
20. Valkyrie Profile Figures
21. Dragon Quest Figures
22. Xenosaga Figures
23. Ragnarok Online Figures
24. Final Fantasy Figures
25. One Piece Figures
26. Gundam Figures
27. Inuyasha Figures
28. FMA Figures
29. Super Mario Figures
30. Edward (FMA) cosplay
31. State Uniform (FMA) cosplay
32. Paopu Fruit (KH)
*Figures means statutette/action figure/figurine
Also, please realize that if we learn of C&D letters going out for a specific series/item, we will be forced to ban those items from the alley. Please don't get ugly with us if that happens. We're not anticipating it, but...who knows.
Questions? Ask away. If you have a question about a specific item, it helps if you can show us a photo.
ETA 2/25/08:
Link to Square-Enix store, so artists can view licensed merchandise:
http://www.square-enix-shop.com/usa/index.html
ETA 3/16/08:
Added to the Disney entry. You cannot give away items with Disney characters. We realize you're not selling them, but we have banned ALL DISNEY from the Alley.
ETA 3/16.08:
Added the "no minors depicted in sexual activity" rule.
Feel free to ask questions or add to the list if you find that an item is already licensed.
1. Food. You can be fined by the TCC for selling food. This includes giving away food, water, sodas or candy.
2. Doujinshi/Comics that were not made by you or your group. So, if you have a great collection of doujins that you bought on eBay, you can't sell them in Artist Alley. All doujins/comics must be your own work or the work of your Art Group. Doujinshi dealers belong in the Dealer's Room.
3. Fanfiction. All doujinshi/fanbooks must be at least 85% art. Original fiction is welcomed, though!
4. Art Materials. Artist Alley is for artists, not small businesses. If you are attempting to resell new OR used copics, pens, etc you need to be in the Dealer's Room.
5. Anything "Mass Produced." By law, "mass produced" means anything that has been created in quantities of more than 100. Button makers are allowed, provided you do not make more than 100 of the same pattern.
6. Art that does not belong to you or you don't have WRITTEN permission to sell. Should be self-explanitory. Art thieves are bad. Very bad. In order to verify that you do have permission to sell a friend's artwork, you need permission in writing--with a signature--not just an email.
7. Photomanipulations that are simply screenshots or images of official art. If you want to sell photomanips, the original images must be your own work.
8. Any item that depicts a character created by Disney. Disney has and will go after fans who attempt to profit from their intellectual property.You cannot sell anything--art, prints, keychains, buttons, commissions, whatever--that shows a Disney character. Please remember this doesn't just apply to animated characters! Jack Sparrow and the other PotC characters are Disney property and thus you cannot sell anything that depicts them. (The Square-Enix characters from KH have not yet posed a problem and so we will allow them unless C&D letters are sent) This also includes giving away items with Disney characters on them. No Disney in the Alley. Period.
9. Sex toys of any type. While adult (18+) art is fine provided it is not publically displayed or sold to minors, any sort of sex toy is not allowed to be sold in the alley. Yes, we have had to deal with this before.
10. Adult Art (18+) to a minor. It's illegal. Card people before you sell it. Just say, "Hey, can I see some ID? I can get in a lot of trouble if I sell you this and you aren't 18."
11. Art depicting minors engaged in sexual activity. It's illegal. We're not allowing it and we're not going to turn this into the great LJ-boldout debate about how the characters are really 18 or that we're stupid if we think 16 year old don't have sex.
12. Items that were created with a commerically available pattern. For instance, if you have made a bunch of handbags using a pattern you bought at a sewing shop, we cannot allow you to sell the items since the pattern is copyrighted. If you make your own pattern, that's fine.
13. Any product that is sold with a credit card transaction. If you are at the point in your business where you are accepting credit card payments, you will not be allowed to have a table in the alley. You need to be in the Dealer's Room.
14. Anything you are receiving a commission for selling. If your friend has some art that you printed on a bag and you are selling the bag and then paying your friend for using the art, you do not belong in Artist Alley.
15. Premade merchandise that can be sold as-is without the addition of artwork. We will not allow you to sell a totebag that you have stenciled a line of text or a symbol from an anime/manga/game. This also includes the TITLE of the source material. Therefore, you could not buy a wallet at Wal-Mart, write "Death Note" on it and sell it in Artist Alley.
16. Fan made soundtracks or fan made videos. While welcome on fan websites, these items violate all sorts of copyright laws and cannot be sold or given away in the Alley.
17. Raffles and Lotteries. You cannot "raffle off" or use a "lottery" to sell or give away a goodie (fan made or otherwise) or your art. This violates local gambling laws.
18. Any product that is licensed or a replica of a licensed product. For instance, if you want to make and sell a copy of Yuna's (FF) hair beads or Chii ears, we cannot allow you to sell that in the Alley because it has already been produced and sold by the copyright holder.
Please note, this also applies to jewelry that is based on licensed products. For instance, if you wanted to make earrings of the symbol on Naruto's headband, you could not because of the trademark.
And...it is the Artist's responsibility to make sure the item isn't licensed. If you show up with it and it is licensed, we won't be able to allow you to sell it. Please, please, please check before you put so much work into your goods!
What's Licensed?
Here's a list of some items that are licensed. Feel free to comment with other ones that you know of for other's reference.
**Please note that this list does not mean you cannot make fanmade items like FMA keychains of YOUR fanart. This list is to make you aware that there are items of this sort OFFICIALLY released by the companies. YOUR JOB is to make sure that the items you wish to sell are NOT REPLICAS of the originals in design. So this still means that CHII or PERSOCON EARS or NARUTO HEADBANDS are NOT ALLOWED to be sold at all.**
1. Yuna's hair beads
2. Naruto cosplay items (headbands, gloves, etc)
3. Full Metal Alchemist gloves
4. Chii ears
5. InuYasha plushies
6. FMA keychains
7. Moogle (Final Fantasy) Plushies
8. Kingdom Hearts Figures
9. Suikoden Figures
10. Xenosaga Figures
11. Tales of the Abyss Figures
12. Naruto Figures
13. Bleach Figures
14. Sailor Moon Figures
15. Star Ocean Figures
16. Tales of Symphonia Figures
17. Tales of Phatasia Figures
18. .hack Figures
19. FF12 Figures
20. Valkyrie Profile Figures
21. Dragon Quest Figures
22. Xenosaga Figures
23. Ragnarok Online Figures
24. Final Fantasy Figures
25. One Piece Figures
26. Gundam Figures
27. Inuyasha Figures
28. FMA Figures
29. Super Mario Figures
30. Edward (FMA) cosplay
31. State Uniform (FMA) cosplay
32. Paopu Fruit (KH)
*Figures means statutette/action figure/figurine
Also, please realize that if we learn of C&D letters going out for a specific series/item, we will be forced to ban those items from the alley. Please don't get ugly with us if that happens. We're not anticipating it, but...who knows.
Questions? Ask away. If you have a question about a specific item, it helps if you can show us a photo.
ETA 2/25/08:
Link to Square-Enix store, so artists can view licensed merchandise:
http://www.square-enix-shop.com/usa/index.html
ETA 3/16/08:
Added to the Disney entry. You cannot give away items with Disney characters. We realize you're not selling them, but we have banned ALL DISNEY from the Alley.
ETA 3/16.08:
Added the "no minors depicted in sexual activity" rule.
