Is it illegal to customize and print things based on movies or anime onto stuff like tshirts?

[einstein]

We see it all the time, up in the auction sites. At conventions. People sell their own rendition of characters, slogans, or logo's of anime and movies. It could be art, on tshirts, or made from vinyl stickers. Isn't this copyright infringement? If so why do so many people still do it?

[farukay]

No!

[flowerChild]

yes I believe so

[flowerChild]

Yes it is illegal. They still do it because they do not care about breaking the law.

[Boomhowwer]

Yes, it is copyright infringement.
They do it because the chance of getting caught is slim.
They do it because the penalty for being caught is small.
The first step in copyright infringement such as you describe, a person using a copyright image for merchandise on a small scale, is a legal order to cease and desist.
If the infringement occurs on a large commercial scale, such as an item that is sold in department stores, the result would be a lawsuit to recover a portion of the proceeds.

[Boomhowwer]

Yes it is illegal, and yes people get busted for it all the time.

Companies MUST pursue trademark violations or risk losing the trademark altogether. That means they must pursue small cases with all the legal vigor they pursue large cases with.

As for copyright violations, copyright protects the right to make derivative works, subject to Fair Use exceptions.

In Copyright (and Trademark cases IIRC) , Parody is a valid Fair Use defense.

Some of the stuff you see (but surely not all) may fall under a Parody claim. Everything else unauthorized is probably illegal.

You can look up Copyright and Trademak in wikipedia.org for a good starting place to read more on of the issues I just raised.