Guild Wars 2

I have a question more then anything but couldn’t find the area where I should put it.

I was recently given a college assignment to work with a group of people to create a product or service. Because I like artwork/games and the other 3 liked t-shirts, games and music, we came to an agreement of shirts. However. One idea I had was to make a shirt with one of the nightmare court stroking a miniature Mordremoth dragon looking creature from the concept art of Mordremoth.

I don’t know if this would get me in copyright trouble at all, and would rather have a permission then to assume. Seeing as assumptions can usually lead to being wrong…

Edit: I forgot to mention that these needed to be sold on college grounds for a profit… Hence why I’m asking.

SPOILERS!
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(as for the choice as to why nightmare court, the nightmare court thought that they were lied to by the pale tree and finds out it’s true and supposed to be creatures to Mordremoth…)

if it is purely academic it should be fine from what I know. copyright law has exceptions for academic stuff, or for things that teach in general, as long as it is not for monetary gain. I think its under 1976 or something, fair use act? I don’t recall xD

If it’s for personal use and you’re not selling it then A net won’t have a problem. If this remains a class exercise and doesn’t turn into a business venture then you’ll be fine.

That’s where the complications come in, it’s a college project yes, but I need to sell them, it’s part of the project, as I said earlier, I need to create a product/service.
I should have mentioned that these needed to be sold in the earlier statement as I’ve probably confused a few people now.

Sorry, Anet doesn’t have any mechanism to allow you to do this. You’ll need to find another company or create your own fictional artwork.

Biobasher.2619:

That’s where the complications come in, it’s a college project yes, but I need to sell them, it’s part of the project, as I said earlier, I need to create a product/service.
I should have mentioned that these needed to be sold in the earlier statement as I’ve probably confused a few people now.

Then it wont be covered under the fair use act, nor under a net’s policy. Both only allow for educational use or non profit.

You’re gonna need to come up unfortunately with an original idea ;(

wsp.5097:

Biobasher.2619:

That’s where the complications come in, it’s a college project yes, but I need to sell them, it’s part of the project, as I said earlier, I need to create a product/service.
I should have mentioned that these needed to be sold in the earlier statement as I’ve probably confused a few people now.

Then it wont be covered under the fair use act, nor under a net’s policy. Both only allow for educational use or non profit.

You’re gonna need to come up unfortunately with an original idea ;(

Yeah :l, I’ve changed the mordremoth looking dragon slightly with a few colourization changes and patterns. As for the Sylvari, I guess I could call her an ent or Spriggan.

Yuo still gotta be careful with it tho, since if people recognize them for what they are it can still be a thing. Copyright laws prevent you from just changing small aspects and calling it original, since that is still technically stealing patented ideas x.x

I don’t know exact regulations to it, but I would still err on the side of caution since GW2 specifically says you cannot use their ideas or whatever for monetization.

And also as a side note, I am not giving you legal advice, just personal advice (since I don’t know actual specifics, just going off memory lol)

This post includes a pretty good summary of copyright law in relation to fan works, as well as link to the actual copyright law for the US. Hopefully it will help you formulate an appropriate image for your shirts (or at least come up with a good parody, haha).

The link above is sourced from this Reddit thread, which discusses the legality of selling commissions for RL money and in-game gold.

So as long as I make my image look different in a few ways from costume to physical appearance, I’m fine? Ok. Thanks Hahnchen

Honestly you’re safer doing something more generic. If you change a few details or colors of the dragon and sylvari then you may still fall under Anet’s Intellectual Property which can lead to copyright issues. Doing a generic dragon and elf type character would be much safer for your project.

The boundary for what you can get away with when it comes to derivative works is very hazy. I always suggest it’s better to play it safe and go further away from the source material, even more so when a company doesn’t have set means or guidelines for licensing. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

If your project remains local and small scale I don’t think Anet would come after you, they don’t seem to be kittens when it comes to protecting their assets, but they do have the right to do so and they have done so before.

everything torsailr said. there is a really fine line with selling fanart anything. a LOT of companies wont do anything about it because its just pennies of loss to them, but that doesn’t mean they wont. It’s always best to err on the side of caution.

Biobasher: I caution that you are walking a very fine line when it comes to copyright infringement.

So as long as I make my image look different in a few ways from costume to physical appearance, I’m fine? Ok. Thanks Hahnchen

Making a few changes is not a legally acceptable way around copyright law.

Please see my post from 8 months ago which was then validated by ANet’s RubiBayer
Content Marketing Manager.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/community/creations/Living-World-Season-1-book/first#post4376325

When it comes to legal matters of this nature I would strongly advise emailing Anet directly at:
community@arena.net