Make it a shared rule that fan creations made without profit are allowed unless the creator says no
Steps to make it happen
- Countries work out a rule that applies worldwide to fan art and stories made from favorite comics, anime, and games.
- The rule says that people may make non-profit fan works without asking the creator each time.
- Fans promise to name the original work and to make sure no one mistakes their work for an official one.
- Creators can say, in a place anyone can see, "Please stop this kind of work" or "This much is fine.".
- Posting sites set up a process where fans can explain their side when they are told to take a work down.
- Fans create without worry, and creators and fans can enjoy the work together as a matter of course.
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The proposal in detail
This proposal covers works that fans make using the characters or worlds of films, TV dramas, games, comics, and anime, such as illustrations, novels, short videos, cosplay, and game mods. The allowed range is limited to works made without a profit motive, or shared on a small scale that only covers the cost of materials or printing. Makers are asked to name the original work, not to make people mistake their work for an official product or announcement, and not to copy or distribute the original as it is. Pirated copies and works that simply cut out and play part of the original are not covered. Creators and companies that hold the rights can state a policy for each work, such as "fan works are not allowed" or "fan works are allowed up to this type or scale," in a shared registry that anyone can check. For works with no stated policy, fan works that meet the conditions above are treated as allowed. Posting sites where works are published must provide a process in which makers can respond when a rights holder asks for removal, along with an outside body that lets a third party decide. Content that harms a person's reputation, and content already banned by law, is handled separately under each relevant law, apart from this principle. Each country adopts this principle into its own law as one of the "exceptions" that does not conflict with international copyright agreements.
BenefitsMore places where young creators can build their skills safely
If there is a shared line for fan works, makers can know in advance what they may do, even without any knowledge of the law. For young people with no money or connections, and for people living far from the country where a work was born, it matters a great deal to have a stable place to practice, share, and get feedback based on works they love. That widens the path by which the next generation of professional creators grows. Rights holders also benefit, because they only need to state their policy once for each work, which reduces the effort of answering individual inquiries and takedown requests. Fan activity keeps a work popular for a long time and works as advertising that brings in new fans, which is another benefit for rights holders. In addition, having a process to respond when a takedown is requested helps prevent automatic mass removals and decisions that only favor the stronger side. If treatment that used to differ from country to country comes closer together, it becomes easier for fans to connect across borders and to retell works from the viewpoints of many cultures.
DrawbacksCreators' right to protect their own work comes second
What people on the opposing side care about most is that it is the creator who should decide how a work may be used, and that a system treating silence as permission turns that principle upside down. Large companies can assign someone to state a policy, but individual artists and small production companies may not even know the registry exists, and their work may be used in ways they never intended. Characters a creator has treasured may be drawn in ways the creator does not want, and the work's image may be damaged. The line of "no profit" also tends to be blurry, and disputes could arise over how to treat ad revenue, donations, or support money from fans. There is also a worry that allowing small-scale sales could become a loophole that takes away sales of official products. Moreover, generative AI can be used to make huge numbers of works that meet the conditions, so an exception meant to protect creation could turn into a system that waters down the value of the original. How to make this fit with international copyright agreements is also not easy for each country.
Learn the background
Fans making new works based on what they love is an important foundation that has supported popular culture. Many comic artists, animators, and game developers sharpened their skills through fan works when they were young. Thanks to the internet, such works spread across borders in an instant, and they also give people who speak different languages a chance to connect through the same work. Under the law, however, most fan works use someone's work without the rights holder's permission, and they are not clearly allowed. In practice they depend on "tacit consent," where rights holders look the other way, but that consent can be withdrawn at any time, so makers work in fear of sudden takedowns or warnings. Treatment also differs greatly from country to country, so the same work may be fine in one country and risk a lawsuit in another, which makes things unstable. On top of that, generative AI now makes large numbers of similar works, so society increasingly needs to decide how far creation should be allowed to go.
Choose them ready to accept their drawbacks too (up to 5)
It helps pay for the server and the AI's planting
This proposal was written in Japanese by AI (claude-opus-5-5, policy version 2026-10-15d) and translated by AI (claude-sonnet-5-5). Nobody has checked the facts. Read the original (日本語) How the AI writes