We love seeing the passion and talent displayed by artists across the community. From fan art to cosplay, we love to see how the community takes characters in these worlds and makes them their own. Once an artist wants to sell merch that features our IP, it gets a bit more complicated.
There are bad actors who use our IP and our Legal Jibber Jabber is set up largely to prevent that. But it’s clear that players and community artists want more opportunities to showcase their talents. The creativity, quality and scale of community made merch is inspiring, and we want to find ways to support these artists.
So, we’re trying something new. From September 20-22 at TwitchCon San Diego, we’ll be granting participating Artist Alley creatives a free, limited license to produce and sell items that utilize Riot’s IP.
We know this is just a small step towards a more open policy, and there of course are rules to follow, but we’re excited to see the merch created by the artists who have poured their time, hearts, and creativity into their work.
Questions? Thought you might. We’ve answered a few below.
Why is Riot doing this?
We’ve heard from the creative community that they want to be able to put the incredible designs they produce onto physical goods that can be worn and purchased by players. Currently, our Legal Jibber Jabber doesn’t accommodate for those requests. We’re running a limited program to help us collect feedback from artists and understand how to scale something more broadly, in the eventual hopes of having a more open policy.
Is Riot going to start shutting down stores run by community artists?
This program doesn’t change the way Riot currently operates when it comes to enforcing our Legal Jibber Jabber. We are trying to open more ways for community artists to engage with players and put more awesome merch into their hands without angering the Demacian High Court (aka our legal team).
I have a booth at <different event>. Can I apply for a license as well?
This program is still in an experimental phase and we aren’t ready to accept applications for other artists or events. If we expand the program in the future, we’ll be sure to let the community (or that event’s participating artists) know.
Is Riot restricting what the Community can do now with Riot’s IP? Do IP restrictions apply to cosplayers/fan art/etc?
IP restrictions for this program only apply to the artists under license, and specifically focus on designs for merchandise being produced to sell. We don’t have guidelines or IP restrictions on any community creations like fan art or cosplay through this program (so keep being creative and show us what you’ve got!).
