Copyright Issues?

If I were to create an equine character based on an anime character, would that cause any copyright issues?

I guess, to be more specific, I'm wanting to create a character based on Zero Kiryu from Vampire Knight. A pale palomino with silver/white mane and lavender eyes. I'd like to include his tattoo but am unsure if that would cause an issue in the copyright area.

Any thoughts on that?

I think it'd only cause issues if you tried to sell a design based off an anime character. At least, I hope so since my Caesar and Jotaro (in my avatar and sig) are based off JoJo's Bizarre Adventure characters. xD

Last edited on 2016-03-31 at 19:57:20 by Syrien 🐇 ☽

Lol I have no plans to sell or even give him away. It's a personal project. ^_^

I think designs based off of any kind of character would fall into an 'intellectual property' category, which could be open to interpretation. I think the main issue in copyright is when you try to monetize something you do not own, because that is essentially making money off of someone else's idea. I think this might require some discussion, but for now I would hazard it being ok.

There are a lot of players on here that I know have characters named after/designs based on/designs inspired by various characters, and it hasn't come up as a problem before. (Mods Roxas and Wiki come to mind, among others, as I believe they have several characters based off game and comic book characters.)

I'd say it falls into the same category as fanart; technically could get sticky if you were trying to sell for real-world money or claim ownership over the character [the anime character; not your horse character], but is generally not an issue.

As with what's already been said, it falls into a grey area of fan art and original art. If you tried to monetize on the creation based on someone elses...you might be in some legal hot water...IF the resemblence is close enough, HOWEVER, if it's inspired and loosely based, and not as readily identifiable, then you should be golden to do whatever you want.

TL;DR: If it's different enough from the original design, you should be safe.

my Rurouni Kenshin is heavily based off Rurouni Kenshin, an anime.
i;ve not run into issues yet

It may fall under parody laws.

I am pretty sure a past player had a Link and Zelda which were pretty dang awesome and no one said anything about it. I think you'll be okay.