Where can I find the copyright owner of the anime? Do I really need it for fan products?


I’m recently thinking about creating enamel pins so I can make some money and
save up, but since I want to design the pin with anime’s such as Toilet Bound
Hanako kun and Cardcaptor Sakura, I am afraid that I will get sued for making
fan products.

Do we really need the copyright owner to approve if it is just a fan product?




For legal questions such as these, it is always good to contact a copyright
lawyer in your country. Laws regarding fair use, copyrights and the likes
differ per country, and a copyright lawyer should be more than capable of
answering your questions. And this answer should not be seen as legal advice.

Beyond that, yes, you'd likely need a license. And should contact the original
IP holder (or their legal departments) to obtain it see also [Who do I contact
regarding rights licenses of specific manga/anime
characters?](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/26915/1458)

To quote [sharur's answer on
Law.SE](https://law.stackexchange.com/a/9455/10474) addressing the creation of
fan-made merchandise of the game Overwatch.

> ... This is exactly the situation that IP law (e.g. copyright and trademark)
> was created to address. Blizzard created the game and so they have rights to
> control and benefit from derivatives there of. There are some exceptions,
> but prints, buttons, and keychains are not likely to meet the requirements
> for those.

Additionally, you can also take a look at [Printing copyrighted logos on
t-shirts/jackets/apparel without permission: in which situations is it
legal?](https://law.stackexchange.com/a/4290/10474) which covers another angle
on a similar idea.

