History Main / FanworkBan

* While Creator/ScottCawthon of ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' has never had any problem with fan fics, twice he forced fan games to stop masquerading as official sequels. When the first ''VideoGame/TheReturnToFreddys'' game was released as ''Five Nights At Freddy's 3'' fans contacted Scott who demanded the game to be renamed. The same happened with ''Fazbear 4'' which was originally ''Five Nights At Freddy's 4''.

** One notable bit of history with this is the idea of Disney animator's "porn protests". Disney's non-compete clause for their animators makes ''any'' original idea an animator makes while working with Disney belong to the company itself, this effectively makes an animator wanting to fly solo with their original property one day impossible for as long as they're with them. In protest of this, former animators have heavily implied but never outright confirmed (likely for fear of being sued for breaking NDA) they'll anonymously draw porn of Disney's beloved characters as a protest and leave it at the studio, and [[BotheringByTheBook because of Disney's own rules]], this rule 34 of their characters is technically owned and condoned by Disney itself. And while Disney would probably rather destroy and delete said Rule 34 when they realize it's in their possession, ever since this was talked about, there's been a persistent joke about a "porn section" in the Disney Vault.

* The most obvious reason is to protect the author's UsefulNotes/{{copyright}}. After all, fanfic is (arguably) copyright infringement, and authors don't like fans potentially eating into their profit margin, especially where they want fans to buy TheMerch or other officially sanctioned material. A related concern is that an author could accidentally (or not) write a story that uses some of the same elements as an existing fanwork, allowing the fan to turn the tables and sue the ''author'' for copyright infringement. Although most fanwork authors don't make any money from the work themselves, it's increasingly common for them to publicize their fanwork to draw attention to unrelated projects they ''do'' make money from, and the line between good faith and bad faith isn't always clear.

* [[ComicBook/ChickTracts Jack Chick]] would legally attack any parody of his tracts, claiming "[[ArtisticLicenseLaw It's only fair use if you draw everything yourself.]]" The relevant copyright laws [[UsefulNotes/FairUse say otherwise]].

* There was an official fanfiction ban during the original broadcast run of ''Series/BabylonFive''. This was instituted after the creator, Creator/JMichaelStraczynski, was forced by Creator/WarnerBros lawyers to prove that he had planned the main plot of the episode "Passing Through Gethsemane" before a fan on UsefulNotes/{{Usenet}} had independently suggested that such a story would be cool.

** Sadly, Capcom in TheNewTwenties (or possibly earlier) has become stricter regarding {{Game Mod}}s, considering them as [[NoFairCheating cheating]] or offensive to public order and morals. [[WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings This came after an incident where a]] ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'' tournament player streamed the game with a nudity mod enabled. This is to the point where in early 2024 Capcom stealthily updated their existing PC releases, but the patch is a trojan to apply the very questionable Enigma Protector UsefulNotes/{{DRM}}, breaking all fan mods good or bad. They did not get away scot-free, at least not entirely, as they ended up rolling back the update for ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'', but others are still affected.

* Website/{{Neopets}} contains many original submissions which have their own rules which fans must follow if they want to make fanworks (mostly of the NoHuggingNoKissing variety). However, they also explicitly allow UsefulNotes/FairUse derivative works or content covered by the Nickelodeon terms of service (which covers Neopets, Website/PetpetPark, Nicktropolis, and ''VideoGame/MonkeyQuest'').

* Jeph Jacques of ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' once stated that while he's "okay" with other people making images of his characters in sexual situations, he draws the line at such drawings of underage characters (specifically Samantha Bean, the daughter of the owner of "The Secret Bakery"). He went on to wish that those who drew Sam naked would "die in a car fire".

The parent organization of Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn, the Organization of Transformative Works, was founded to fight against fanwork bans and argue that fanworks are a type of "transformative work", protected under copyright rules.

* {{Creator/Archie|Comics}}, concerned about the proliferation of Rule34 fanfics, has banned all fan fiction of ''ComicBook/ArchieComics'' in general. That hasn't stopped people from putting up fan fiction and fan art on the Internet anyway, although more "official" venues still have to respect the ban; Website/FanFictionDotNet, for instance, took down its ''Archie'' section (but not its ''WesternAnimation/JosieAndThePussycats'' section), but Website/ArchiveOfOurOwn still has one. The main exception is ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', since all ''Franchise/{{Sonic|TheHedgehog}}'' characters are owned by Creator/{{Sega}}, which is Japanese and doesn't mind nearly as much. (Creator/KenPenders, though, insists that any fan art of his characters include a copyright crediting him.)

* Avex is another notorious offender in this regard; many {{Animutation}}s featuring music from their artists have had Website/YouTube videos taken down by their cease-and-desist orders.

** Sega made the unusual decision to ban all Website/YouTube videos with footage from the ''VideoGame/ShiningSeries'', regardless of context. The theory was that they weren't even worried about copyright; rather, they were trying to increase the profile of the then-upcoming ''Shining Ark''. After being called on it, Sega eventually reversed the decision with a half-hearted apology.

* Creator/EpicGames, makers of ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'', sent a cease-and-desist notice to a fan who posted a picture on his Website/DeviantArt page of his [[http://forums.xbox-scene.com/lofiversion/index.php/t590896.html custom Super Sculpey-made]] ''Gears of War'' action figure -- not because of the figure itself, but because of the also custom-made blister box he put it in, which the lawyers claimed was "too realistic".

** The Tetris Company is hugely protective of the ''Tetris'' brand. If you dare to use the name ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}''® or even so much as create a game that involves falling tetriminos, without paying the proper license fees and royalties, prepare for a cease-and-desist letter. They have sent DMCA takedown notices to Website/YouTube for videos just featuring unofficial ''Tetris'' clones. They have even gone as far as threatening legal action against fans who pointedly use only elements that cannot legally be copyrighted,[[note]]A U.S. federal court said so in ''Lotus Development Corp. v. Borland Int'l, Inc.'', 49 F.3d 807 (1st Cir. 1995). The Supreme Court was tied 4-4, though. 516 U.S. 233 (1996).[[/note]] using meritless legal claims for intimidation (in a strategy known as a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SLAPP SLAPP]]). Their stance causes particular headaches to fans of ''VideoGame/TetrisTheGrandMaster'', which [[NoExportForYou wasn't released outside Japan]][[note]]a port of the first game was eventually released as part of Hamster's Arcade Archives, with the second following afterwards[[/note]]. Ironically enough, ''Tetris'' was created in the Soviet Union by a government employee and was thus originally in the public domain.

* Bill Holbrook has discouraged fanart and fanfiction of ''Webcomic/KevinAndKell'', feeling that it weakens his copyright protection. He now has a Website/DeviantArt community for fanart, but fanfic is still a no-go.

* Website/FanFictionDotNet's [[https://www.fanfiction.net/guidelines/ content guidelines]] contain a list of [=IPs=] and authors for which the site does not accept fics, including: Creator/AnneRice, ''Creator/ArchieComics'' (the only IP on the list so far), Dennis L. [=McKiernan=], Irene Radford, J.R Ward, Laurell K Hamilton, Creator/NoraRoberts, P.N. Elrod, Creator/RaymondEFeist, Creator/RobinHobb, Creator/RobinMcKinley and Creator/TerryGoodkind.
* Ghost of ''Radio/TrueCapitalist'' has implied such a ban on his radio show, owing to his displeasure of people compromising the integrity of his "[[BlatantLies serious]]" online political talk show by [[{{Sampling}} splicing his voice together to make remixes]] and [[ManipulativeEditing make him say things he never said]]. He has a "Shit List" of people he's caught doing this (including the makers of "Melting Pot of Alcohol"). But to his credit, he hasn't tried to force Website/YouTube to take the videos down.

* Creator/ParamountGlobal is notorious for their ferocious protection of ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' and their seemingly utter distaste for any unofficial and fan created works featuring the cartoon sponge, to the point where they (back when they were Viacom) outright ''sued'' Website/YouTube in 2008 due to copyright infringement, which ended up backfiring. Even after the lawsuit backfired however, Paramount continues to frequently and quickly crack down on fanmade works featuring [=SpongeBob=] to this very day and chances are, if you upload ''anything'' [=SpongeBob=] related onto the internet, especially on [=YouTube=], it's gonna get copyright striked and/or taken down by Paramount. Unsurprisingly, this has resulted in many fan projects getting taken down, if not become [[MissingEpisode lost entirely]] and for Paramount to quickly become hated by many fans, especially content creators.

** Surprisingly, their zealous stance towards unauthorised modifications and depictions of their vehicles hasn't yet extended to [[GameMod video game mods]], e.g. in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'', where said Ferraris would most likely face way too much torture than what the Prancing Horse could even imagine.

** This is also why the ''VideoGame/{{Forza}}'' games have stopped labelling the names of engine swaps since ''Forza Motorsport 5''; Ferrari's dislike of modifications extends to gamers putting virtual Ferrari engines in virtual non-Ferrari cars, as this game was the first in the series to allow cross-manufacturer engine swaps , so the developers went for generic descriptor names as a loophole.

** Fresh TV has taken action against several ''VideoGame/{{Roblox}}'' servers based on the show, forcing those servers to either be taken down or change the character names to legal-friendly substitutes.

* As of July 2021, Creator/{{Mattel}} has been cracking down on ''VideoGame/{{Roblox}}'' fangames based on ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends''.

* ''Galaxy in Turmoil'' was a going to be a fan made ''Franchise/StarWars'' game based on the canceled ''[[VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront Battlefront III]]''. After receiving a cease and desist, the game was redesigned and released on Platform/{{Steam}} with non-''Star Wars'' graphics.

** ''Chrono Trigger: VideoGame/CrimsonEchoes'' was a ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' fan game with over 35 hours of gameplay and eleven endings, and was cancelled due to a(n alleged) cease and desist.[[note]](Long story short, the [=C&D's=] nature is extremely dubious, more info on the game's page, but nobody wants to verify it and risk poking the hornets' nest.)[[/note]]

** ''Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes'' was a ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' fan game with over 35 hours of gameplay and eleven endings, and was cancelled due to a cease and desist.

* Creator/{{Sanrio}} bans fan work for their characters, including Franchise/HelloKitty, WebOriginal/SanrioBoys, Toys/{{Jewelpet}}, and ''Anime/OnegaiMyMelody'', as the image of their characters are crucial to selling their products. Comic Market even bans fan merchandise of Sanrio characters from being sold at their conventions. This expands to even their collaboration designs (e.g. their collaboration with ''Anime/YuriOnIce'').

* ''Galaxy in Turmoil'' was a going to be a fan made ''Franchise/StarWars'' game based on the canceled ''[[VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefront Battlefront III]]''. After receiving a cease and desist, the game was redesigned and released on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} with non-''Star Wars'' graphics.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' was going to receive a fan translation on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, but the project was cancelled due to a cease and desist. Later, Creator/SquareEnix decided to allow Nintendo to localize the game officially on the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS, albeit with the orchestral soundtrack replaced with a MIDI one.

** Sadly, Capcom in TheNewTwenties (or possibly earlier) has become stricter regarding {{Game Mod}}s, considering them as [[NoFairCheating cheating]] or offensive to public order and morals. [[WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings This came after an incident where a]] ''VideoGame/StreetFighter6'' tournament organizer streamed the game with a nudity mod enabled. This is to the point where in early 2024 Capcom stealthily updated their existing PC releases, but the patch is a trojan to apply the very questionable Enigma Protector UsefulNotes/{{DRM}}, breaking all fan mods good or bad. They did not get away scot-free, at least not entirely, as they ended up rolling back the update for ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'', but others are still affected.