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And that, sir, is why I don't sell prints of fanart. Even if my bestest favoritistes picture I have is of Boba Fett I will not print it. But if any of my comics ever become popular and I found someone who sold fanart I would sue them. Straight up.

I do, however make prints of popular characters outside the copyright flied (Queen of heart/alice in wonderland is open). There are still a bunch of popular and loved characters that you CAN make profit off of. Hell, looks at Diseny LOL.

If this were to happen online somewhere, I have no idea other than asking them to stop and perhaps warning any of my art watchers about it.

If this happened at a convention, I would simply report it to the volunteers in charge of the art department. Most cons allow fanart by also include in the rules that the artwork must be drawn by the individual themselves. They have the power to kick them out of the artist alley if the person doesn't agree quietly to stop.

If someone is selling pictures drawn by you, fanart or no, at a convention all you need to do is fine someone on AA staff or con security, alert them to it, and these people will be escorted out of the con. I think wasting table money at the very least, and most likely the money for con badges as well would teach them not to do crap like that.

It's a legal grey area - there isn't a clear definition of what is fair use, just multiple factors that contribute to it, so you can't be sure you're protected by fair use. (Parody is allowed in the US, but that implies making fun of something, rather than just drawing characters from it, so that doesn't mean all fanart is allowed.)



That's a good idea; I should try that. (Too bad the one public domain thing I really fangirl about isn't that popular with the anime crowd...)

Anyway, about the main subject of the thread... I'm really not sure what I'd do. Probably try to get them kicked off the sites where they're selling it, or ruin their reputation if that doesn't work, rather than take legal action.