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For sometime I had an idea for making a product that later I intend to sell. The thing is, it is based of somebodies work, so you can call it fan work. Let’s say I want to draw a painting with this Star Trek logo enter image description here

I want to sell it. Will it be considered a copyright infringement? And then again, if I will change it a bit, like, add some scratch marks or additional symbols, will it technically be my product, or will it be still protected by Copyright? What if I take only the logo, without text, will it be considered my work of art? And say, what if I take this logo, and create a show called Star Way, is the show considered mine? Yes, it will be an obvious rip off, but will it be legally original?

I hope I made myself clear.

Answer 7726

All of those would clearly be copyright infringement. All the possibilities you mention would be derivative works because you are modifying someone else's copyrighted work.

Fair use is a pretty big exception to copyright, but since it looks like you are primarily looking to profit from your derivative works, it is unlikely that it would be fair use.

Some authors welcome derivative works. For example, see Kindle Worlds, but most authors, especially well known authors do not.

You probably can't do what you want without infringing someone else's copyright. Though if you look on Etsy, people do this all the time.

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