Sprite Stitch Board!

Hi everyone, I'm thinking about tabling in the Artists Alley at a local anime convention, but I don't know much about copyright laws, and I'm hoping to tap into the hive mind of knowledge here.

I'm likely going to be stitching pokemon designs/sprites, and I know selling official artwork or copyrighted characters is bad. If i use the pokedex sprites since they're nice and pixelated already, is that using trademaked stuff? If I take published images (since I'm not the kind of artsy that can draw new ones myself) but make my own pattern for it, is that bad?

Any insight into the world of selling stitching would be appreciated!

(I've been lurking on spritestitch for a couple years and finally registered, and I'm excited about it!)

Welcome to Sprite Stitch! You sure did ask a doozy of a first question

I'm not a lawyer, but here's my two cents...

The short answer is that you can't sell products created from someone else's images unless the creator gives you permission, or licences you the rights. Yes, there is a "fair use" clause in many country's copyright laws that could protect work if it is considered transformative - meaning it changes or enhances the original image in such a way as to create a completely new experience. However, trying to determine what would be considered transformative is incredibly difficult, and in the past it has been found that simply recreating an existing image in a different medium wasn't enough. Meaning that selling cross stitched game sprites, or turning someone else's image into a cross stitch pattern probably aren't fair use.

The sad state of affairs with copyright law is that the only way to find out for sure if your use is fair is to end up in court. Few independent artists have the finances, time, or energy to pursue a court case when faced with a threat from the likes of Nintendo. Most people would rather stop selling the work than try to fight and risk losing. What it unfortunately means in the end is that there is very little case law to look it, which causes copyright law - particularly around artwork - to be very muddy.

That being said, a quick stroll through Etsy will show you that an awful lot of people are making money selling items created from Nintendo owned images. That doesn't make it okay, but it does mean that the risk of Nintendo coming after you for selling a small number of handcrafted Pokemon sprites at a convention is fairly low. But it is a risk, and only you can decide if it's one you're willing to take.

I've never actually tried to sell anything myself, but many other people around here have. So hopefully some of them will be able to chime in and share their experiences and whether they've ever run into any issues.

rainbowfshh wrote:Hi everyone, I'm thinking about tabling in the Artists Alley at a local anime convention, but I don't know much about copyright laws, and I'm hoping to tap into the hive mind of knowledge here.

I'm likely going to be stitching pokemon designs/sprites, and I know selling official artwork or copyrighted characters is bad. If i use the pokedex sprites since they're nice and pixelated already, is that using trademaked stuff? If I take published images (since I'm not the kind of artsy that can draw new ones myself) but make my own pattern for it, is that bad?

Any insight into the world of selling stitching would be appreciated!

(I've been lurking on spritestitch for a couple years and finally registered, and I'm excited about it!)

Well, I AM a copyright lawyer and here's my two cents.

Even if you are using the pokedex, someone created those. Even if you get around the fair use of the originals, the person who made the Sprite could have a copyright in the Sprite if they changed it enough. You aren't protecting yourself by using someone else's work, you are just adding an additional person who could sue you.

If you take ANY published art and use it, even if you make your own pattern you ARE committing copyright infringement. You MAY be able to argue fair use (IF you are in the US, IF you meet the requirements, IF the judge finds in your favor) but it's an if. And getting to the point where you are given the all clear by a judge can be prohibitively expensive (as in, statutory damages start in the thousands, and the lawyer fees alone will be way beyond that).

Putting my 2 cents in here. I'd just tread very very carefully. Those Etsy shops get away with a lot but don't think that Nintendo is not out there handing out cease and desist to these stores. In my Etsy store a few years back in college I was just nonchalantly knitting up Pokeball hats and was making quite a bit of side money making them ($15) and had a few orders a week.. all was good for a few months until I went viral when someone blogged about my hats on tumblr and it went crazy! I was swamped with people and that's when the letter from the Pokemon Company themselves hit me. So just be careful. There were other sellers on Etsy making the exact same hat at the time and they were not hit. You're like playing roulette until you fall upon their radar. I just take commission work now and keep everything very private.