Advice - Selling prints of Commissioned pieces

[quescostumes.livejournal.com]

I've recently heard of an artist who is selling prints that contains other people's characters. The art and style is her own, and the art with characters are either gifts or commissions. The prints for sale include the original piece uploaded to art sites, without any recoloring or hiding others' characters. Should people buy these prints, it's basically making money off of others' designs, right?

It's not okay, right? Is it legal? Rude? Or just frowned upon?

How should someone handle this kind of situation if the artist in question is a friend?

Any advice, A_B?

Edit: Thanks everyone for your very useful replies! :)

Comments

[redregon.livejournal.com]

In this area, the character (unless the person getting the commission has the paperwork and listing of the company it's registered to to prove that it's trademarked) is actually not covered under copyright either... a character in this sense is, legally, an idea and ideas cannot be copyrighted. they CAN be trademarked IF the person has registered (or is pending registration) their character as a trademark and this character is indicative of their company's brand. but the whole "this character is copytighted to X" is not technically legally binding... though, the pictures they're in are copyrights but the artist holds those copyrights as their own and not the character's owner.

For example... Fender, the mascot on FA can be trademarked (as is Mickey Mouse) because FerroxLLC is the parent company of FurAffinity. Senior fluffy-butts the third (random name) can not be a trademark.

(edited for typo)

[radiocatastrophe (from livejournal.com)]

I dunno about that, when I started doing work pertaining to Home Stuck I was told by Hussie's lawyers that the characters were his intellectual property... I don't think you need to have a trademark on your character in order for it to be legally your own.

[redregon.livejournal.com]

That would have been an empty threat. even IP laws only pertain to the actual product featuring them and not just the concept. chances are they would have probably caught you on a breach of contract violation as opposed to an actual trademark infringement charge.

an intellectual property isn't something that resides in the intellect, it's a property that doesn't usually have a tangible, real-world component to it (such as software, video games, etc.)

[shukivengeance.livejournal.com]

He manufactures Homestuck merchandise and is creating a videogame, I'd be surprised if they weren't trademarked.

[radiocatastrophe (from livejournal.com)]

I was working on a set of horn meshes for IMVU, a lot of people who saw told me I should contact him before trying to post them in my catalog (which is weird as I don't see how someone could've owned the rights of how horns look) and his lawyers said that I couldn't sell the meshes of the horns because they belong to his characters which are his intellectual property.