What permissions should a fan convention check before selling tickets?

You've booked a hall, found a guest fans are excited about, and started pulling together the announcement. Then someone asks whether you can use that character on the poster. The designer says the guest's agent sent the picture. The agent says they approved the guest appearance. Everyone thought someone else had cleared the artwork.

Before selling tickets to a fan convention, check each use of someone else's work or identity separately. Your event name, promotional images, screenings, music, guest activities and trader stock can involve different rights and different people who can approve them. Confirm the permission or other lawful basis for the actual use, then make your ticket offer match what you can deliver.

The useful question is more specific than "Are fan conventions allowed?" It's "Can we use this material, in this way, for this event?" A convention can bring people together around a shared interest without having permission to reproduce everything associated with that interest.

This guide gives you a practical way to make those decisions before announcement day. The legal examples are labelled UK or US because the rules differ. Use a qualified adviser in the relevant jurisdiction for uncertain uses, especially anything central to your brand or paid programme. The broader event plan belongs in our guide to organising a paid fan convention. Here, we'll concentrate on what you need to check, who needs to answer, and what happens when the answer is no.

List what your convention will use

Write down what your convention will actually do with other people's material. "We're celebrating science fiction" doesn't tell an adviser whether you're hosting a conversation, selling a character print, showing an episode, or putting a studio logo above the buy button. Those are different proposals.

Walk through the buyer's experience. They see an advertisement, open your event page, choose a pass, receive a confirmation, arrive at the venue and attend activities. They might buy merchandise, pose for a photograph, watch a screening and later appear in your recap video. Record the material used at each point, including things your team considers incidental decoration.

Start with these areas:

• The convention name, logo, domain name and social account names.

• Posters, advertisements, website graphics, guest photographs and printed tickets.

• Films, episodes, trailers, game footage, slides and clips used in sessions.

• Background music, stage entrances, competitions, performances and parties.

• Guest names, images, character performances, photo backdrops and autograph stock.

• Trader products, artist-alley work, convention merchandise and sponsor materials.

• Recordings, livestreams, press distribution, highlight clips and future promotion.

Assign each proposed use to a person who can explain it. Your programme lead should know what a screening contains. Your marketing lead should know which images the agency plans to publish. A trader coordinator should know what sellers have applied to bring. One organiser can maintain the overall record without being expected to guess every department's plans.

For UK copyright, GOV.UK's guide to using somebody else's intellectual property describes routes including a licence, acquiring the rights, or establishing that an exception applies. It also explains that licences can be limited by purpose, time and place. That is why "permission received" needs a description of what was permitted.

Checking a use doesn't mean automatically buying a licence. It means establishing the position for that use and recording the answer. You might already hold the necessary rights, or have another lawful basis. Don't pay for permission you don't need, and don't treat a request for payment as proof that the sender controls the rights.

Treat the list as a planning document. If someone adds a karaoke final after the programme review, put it through the same process. Otherwise, the main event can be carefully checked while a late addition introduces something nobody has considered. The best time to find that problem is while the activity is still a suggestion.

Separate copyright, branding and the guest's agreement

Copyright concerns protected creative work, such as illustrations, photographs, films and music. Trade marks concern signs that distinguish goods or services, including names and logos. A guest agreement concerns what the guest has committed to do and what you may do with their approved promotional material. Other rights and contractual restrictions can also matter. One approval should not be treated as an answer to all of them.

Suppose a fictional actor agrees to appear at your convention. Their agent sends a portrait and confirms that you can use it to announce the booking. You still need to establish that the sender has authority to permit the photograph's use. If you want to put a character illustration behind the portrait, ask a separate question about that illustration. If you want the actor to perform a scene, describe that activity separately too.

You don't need to turn every staff member into an intellectual property specialist. You need them to recognise when they are changing the proposal. "Use the approved portrait in the guest announcement" is a specific instruction. "Make a whole campaign around the character" introduces additional material and a different commercial use.

Be equally careful with the word "official". It can describe an actual authorised relationship, but it should never become a design shortcut for making an independent convention look more established. Ask what a buyer would reasonably understand from the complete advertisement, including logos, wording and placement.

The US Patent and Trademark Office explains likelihood of confusion through similar marks and related goods or services. Marks do not have to be identical to create a problem. For your event, the practical response is to have the proposed name and visual identity checked before investing in printing, domains and advertising. A quick search for an identical name is only an initial check.

An independent convention should have a brand it can continue to use. That's a commercial advantage as well as a permissions issue. If next year's edition depends on a different guest or programme, an identity built around your own event gives you more room to adapt. Commission original work for that identity and agree the rights you need from the people creating it.

Check the exact artwork before the announcement goes out

Build a small approved asset folder for the launch. Every item should have an identifiable source and a permitted use your team understands. Keep the original file, the approval or licence, any credit requirement, the approved wording, and the dates or restrictions that affect publication.

Downloading an image from a search result tells you where you found it. It doesn't establish permission to use it. The same problem applies to an image copied from a guest's social profile or a fan account. Find the underlying source and the relevant terms instead of treating public visibility as approval.

When a representative sends a media pack, ask which files your event may use, where they may appear, and whether changes need approval. Cropping a portrait into an advertisement, adding a sponsor beside it, or printing it on a product can be materially different proposals. Send a mock-up when words alone leave room for misunderstanding.

A useful approval request identifies the file and the use together. For example, you might ask to use portrait file GuestPortrait_A in the convention's event page, organic announcement posts and paid social advertising for the named edition. Specify the campaign dates, the intended territories and any sponsor placement. Ask the representative to confirm their authority and identify any further approval required.

That is a request outline, rather than a ready-made licence. The final agreement needs to suit the rights and jurisdiction involved. But it gives the recipient enough information to answer something concrete. "Can we use the photo for marketing?" leaves several of your most important uses unexplained.

Be particularly clear about merchandise. A poster advertising admission and a poster sold as a collectible are different products in your plan. Record them separately. Don't send an approved advertising image to the merchandise supplier simply because the design has already passed a marketing review.

Commissioned artwork needs the same care. Agree whether you need print, online, paid advertising, merchandise, adaptation and future-edition uses. Ask the artist to identify third-party material incorporated into the design. Paying an invoice is a poor substitute for a clear written understanding of what you can publish and sell.

Once the final artwork is approved, give the team that version. Archive rejected or superseded versions somewhere they cannot be mistaken for current production files. If an agency prepares a new format, check whether it changes the approved content or context before releasing it. A permissions process has little value if the printer receives the wrong attachment.

Check screening rights before announcing the title

A screening can be a strong reason to buy a convention pass. That also makes it a poor activity to announce while you are still working out whether you can show it. Start with the exact title, version, format, date, venue, audience and admission arrangement. Explain whether the screening is separately ticketed or included in a wider paid convention.

For UK events, GOV.UK's guidance on showing films and television in public says permission is needed even when tickets are free. It distinguishes copyright permission from other requirements such as a premises licence or a TV Licence. A personal streaming subscription does not automatically provide public screening rights. Check the actual service and proposed use.

Ask the authorised distributor or licensing representative whether they can license the title for your event. Describe the screening rather than choosing the licence name yourself. A convention screening advertised to paying members of the public may have different terms from another use the venue has previously arranged.

Confirm what the agreement allows you to announce. It might address the title, artwork, publicity timing or admission arrangements. Keep those conditions with the screening record so your marketing team does not publish a campaign that contradicts the booking terms. Confirm the source of the screening copy and any technical or security requirements too.

Plan accessibility with the version you will actually receive. Ask what captioned or accessible materials are available and permitted, and arrange the audience information accordingly. Don't advertise a captioned screening on the assumption that your technician can modify any supplied file. Resolve delivery and permissions together before making the promise.

Now separate the screening from anything recorded around it. Permission to show a film in the room should not be assumed to include a livestream of that room, a recording of the screen or clips in next year's advertisement. Mark those proposed uses explicitly. Our guide to running a ticketed film festival develops the screening and delivery work in more detail.

If the answer is no, change the programme while you still can. You might commission an original creator discussion, use material a participating creator can properly authorise, or remove the screening. Each replacement still needs its own check. A disappointed programmer is easier to manage before launch than buyers who paid specifically for a film you cannot show.

Treat panels and clips as a different proposal from entertainment screenings

A panel analysing a scene and a room playing episodes all afternoon have different purposes. Describe that difference accurately when seeking advice. Do not take a conclusion about one session and apply it to the other because both involve a screen.

In the US, the Copyright Office's fair use explanation describes a case-by-case assessment involving purpose and character, the nature of the work, the amount used, and the effect on its market. Commercial use is one consideration rather than an automatic answer. A criticism panel may raise a different analysis from a compilation offered mainly for entertainment, but the session label alone doesn't establish fair use.

The Copyright Office also says there is no fixed permitted number of words, notes or percentage. Don't write a rule such as "all clips under thirty seconds are allowed" into your speaker pack. Contributors could rely on that instruction without checking whether their particular use is lawful.

UK organisers should use the UK framework. GOV.UK's guidance on copyright exceptions explains fair dealing for purposes including criticism, review and quotation, with conditions such as acknowledgement where required. It also describes limited exceptions for parody, caricature and pastiche. These are specific legal routes, rather than a general exemption for fan activity. A US fair use conclusion cannot simply be imported into a UK programme.

Your practical job is to give the reviewer enough detail. Collect the proposed extracts, their source, what the speaker will say about them, how the audience will see them, and whether the session will be recorded. Ask for slides early enough to make changes. A last-minute deck containing an unreviewed montage leaves you very little room to respond.

Where you rely on an exception, record the actual assessment and any limits the adviser gives. The record might identify which extract can be used for which discussion and which uses require another review. It shouldn't become a vague note saying "educational panel approved" that later gets attached to unrelated material.

Have a workable alternative. A speaker can sometimes discuss their own process with authorised material or change the format. Ask them to prepare that version before they travel. You want a session you can deliver confidently if a proposed extract cannot be used, rather than a technician deciding whether to press play while the audience waits.

Include music wherever it appears

Music can enter the event through more than the evening party. Think about entrance playlists, stage walk-ons, cosplay routines, karaoke, trader demonstrations and a DJ between panels. Ask every activity lead what they plan to play or perform. "There isn't a concert" doesn't answer that question.

For UK public music use, PPL PRS explains in its event licensing help that new customers can arrange an event permit and existing licence holders should contact it about adding an event's music usage. Ask the venue and the relevant licensing body to confirm what covers your proposed activities. Don't stop at the venue saying it already has a licence.

Describe the actual rooms, times and uses. A conversation about background music in a foyer should not be your only check for a separate ticketed dance party. Ask who is responsible for arranging coverage, providing information and paying the charge. Record the answer in the event budget and the operating brief.

Give performers a submission deadline for planned music and a contact for questions. If you run a competition, explain the submission process before entrants prepare their routines. Ask the licensing representative about the relevant repertoire and any uses outside standard coverage. A performance involving dramatic presentation or adapted material may need a more specific discussion.

The online material needs a separate review. When a routine is included in a recap video, or a playlist is audible during a livestream, the use has changed. Ask what permission is needed for the recording and distribution. Our guide to music rights for event promotional videos explains the questions around the song, recording and intended promotional channels.

Tell the video team which performances they may record and which they must exclude. A camera operator cannot reliably solve that by looking at a stage. Give them a schedule and brief the editor too. Otherwise, a performance you deliberately kept out of the livestream can reappear in the highlights because the footage looked good.

Be precise about guest appearances and character activities

Start by writing the activity in ordinary language. Is the guest giving a conversation about their career, signing items, posing for photographs as themselves, performing a scene, wearing a recognisable character costume, or appearing in a branded set? The distinction affects what you need to ask the representative and any other rights holder.

Don't assume an actor's appearance contract gives you the studio's permission to use a character, script, logo or scene. Ask the agent what they can authorise and what requires another approval. Equally, don't assume the studio can approve every photograph of the guest. Establish the authority for each part of your proposal.

Agree the announcement wording. A factual reference to a guest's career and a claim that a character is officially appearing at your event create different expectations. Have the representative review the actual copy and image combination, rather than approving a name in isolation. If the appearance changes, review the materials that depend on it.

Photo sessions deserve particular attention because the purchase is specific. Confirm the guest's agreed presentation, the permitted backdrop, what image the customer receives, and any limits on the organiser's reuse. An autograph ticket can raise another question about who supplies the item being signed. Don't assume stock brought by a print supplier is authorised simply because the guest is willing to sign it.

Separate attendee cosplay from activities you produce and sell. An attendee arriving in costume, a competition entry, a hired performer offering paid character photographs, and a character image printed on your merchandise are different situations. Have your adviser assess the uses you organise and promote. Avoid promising a blanket legal position for every costume someone might wear.

Operational rules still matter alongside those decisions. You need appropriate conduct, photography, safeguarding and prop policies for your audience and venue. A permissions approval does not settle those arrangements. Give the relevant teams enough information to handle both without trying to solve legal questions at the entrance.

Keep the representative's approved activity description with the production schedule. If a sponsor later asks the guest to record an endorsement or appear at a branded stand, send that new request through the agreed approval route. A small schedule addition can become a substantial change to what the guest and rights holders were asked to accept.

Set a trader policy that your team can apply

Your trader application should ask what sellers intend to bring before you take their booking as final. Distinguish original creations, resale of genuine goods, licensed products and work based on someone else's characters or designs. These descriptions help you identify questions. They do not settle the legal status of everything in a category.

Ask for sample product images and the seller's business details. Where authorisation is relevant, ask what evidence they can provide and which products it covers. A photograph of an official-looking label is not necessarily enough to resolve a concern. Refer uncertain cases to the person responsible for the policy and, where needed, your adviser.

For UK businesses, the Intellectual Property Office's IP crime and enforcement guidance, updated in October 2026, describes risks involving counterfeit goods and infringement. That is a reason to take stock questions seriously, rather than treating every dispute as a matter of fan etiquette. It does not mean your volunteers should decide infringement claims themselves.

Write the policy around conduct you can explain and administer. State what information sellers must provide, what products your event accepts, how changes are approved, how complaints are handled and who can require a sale to pause. Have the relevant contractual terms reviewed, including what happens to the table booking if stock is rejected.

Keep counterfeit products and fan-created work distinct in the review. A forged product presented as genuine raises different questions from an artist openly selling their own interpretation of a character. Neither should receive an automatic approval because other conventions accept it. Ask the relevant questions about the particular stock and your event's policy.

Do not advertise artist alley as a place where copyright rules stop applying. Also avoid a vague promise to approve "all original art" if your team uses original to mean merely hand-drawn. A work can be made by the seller and still incorporate someone else's protected material. Use descriptions that tell applicants what information you need.

Give the traders the final policy before they commit to printing or travel, and provide a route for pre-event questions. Late uncertainty is expensive for them as well as you. If your team changes a policy, explain the change and deal with affected bookings under the applicable agreement and law.

On the day, ask staff to report concerns to a named coordinator. They should record the stall, product, time and complaint, preserve relevant information appropriately, and avoid public arguments. Arrange a proportionate response with the responsible lead and adviser. Your policy needs a decision process that works while the hall is open.

Keep one permissions record the team can use

A useful record connects the proposed use to the evidence and the production instruction. It should let a new marketing manager work out whether a particular image can go into an advertisement without reopening every email in your inbox.

Use one entry per materially different use. The same portrait on an event page and on a product for sale may need separate entries because the scope differs. Link related entries so you can see the full picture without reducing everything to one broad status.

The following fields make a practical starting point:

• The material or activity, with a recognisable file name or version.

• The proposed use, including publication channel, audience, venue and territory.

• Event dates and any separate advertising or recording period.

• The owner or authorised representative, with their contact details.

• The permission, licence or documented alternative legal basis.

• Conditions, credits, approval steps, fees and reporting obligations.

• The person responsible, decision deadline and present status.

• The approved production file and the alternative if approval is unavailable.

Keep sensitive agreements and contact information accessible only to people who need them. Most staff need the instruction, not the full contract. A stage technician needs to know which file to play and whether recording is allowed. A designer needs the approved image, credit and layout conditions.

For an internal planning example, imagine a fictional session called Drawing Imaginary Cities. The creator proposes to present their own slides in a room at your convention, with no livestream. Your record identifies slide version C, the creator's confirmation of the rights they can authorise, the agreed live use, and the fact that recording has not been approved. The stage brief says to use version C and keep the recording feed off for that session.

If the creator later adds a publisher's pages to version D, it goes back for review. You don't need to reopen unrelated event permissions, but you do need an answer about the added material. That connection between a version and a permitted use is what makes the record useful.

Use statuses that reflect decisions. "Requested" means someone has asked. "Under review" means an answer is still pending. "Approved for the stated use" means the conditions are met for that entry. "Replace or remove" gives production a clear instruction. A colour in a spreadsheet should never conceal that the approval refers to an earlier file.

Send requests people can actually answer

Find the person authorised to deal with the use, then make the request specific enough to route internally. A studio's customer support team may be able to direct you, but a polite reply from an unrelated department is not something to treat as a licence.

Here's a fictional request to adapt for a guest portrait. The file name, convention and dates are invented, and the request itself grants no rights.

We're organising Harbour Fan Weekend at Riverside Hall on 12 and 13 June 2027. We'd like to use the attached GuestPortrait_A to announce the guest's confirmed appearance. The proposed layout is attached, including the event name and ticket link. This is a paid convention, and the portrait would appear on our event page, organic social posts and paid social advertisements promoting this edition.

Our proposed campaign runs from 1 March until the convention closes on 13 June. Paid advertisements would target the UK, while the event page and organic posts would be publicly accessible online. We aren't requesting merchandise, sponsor endorsement or future-edition use. Please confirm whether you're authorised to grant these uses, any licence fee, credit or approval conditions, and any further permissions we need. We can revise the proposal before publication.

Notice how that request distinguishes advertising territory from online visibility. It also makes the exclusions explicit so the recipient can respond to a defined proposal. Your actual request needs the real channels and dates, including what happens to archived posts after the campaign ends. Ask for that answer rather than assuming that stopping advertising settles every continuing use.

For a screening, include the title and version, number of screenings, room, proposed admission and whether any online use is planned. For artwork, specify the files, formats and distribution channels. For a guest campaign, show how their name and image will appear alongside your brand. The recipient shouldn't have to infer the commercial proposal from a general convention brochure.

Ask about timing without presenting your deadline as their obligation. You might explain that the screening needs a decision before your programme announcement and ask whether that timetable is realistic. Build your own replacement date around the answer. Repeatedly chasing a request after the printer deadline doesn't improve the event plan.

When terms arrive, read them against the uses in your record. Check the identity and authority of the person granting permission, what material is covered, what your organisation may do, where and for how long, and what approval or payment is still required. Ask an adviser to resolve uncertain language before you rely on it.

Don't turn silence into consent. A request that received no answer remains unresolved in your plan. Equally, don't expand a narrow yes. If the reply approves the event-page image, ask before using it on a paid advertisement or sponsor product when those uses were not included.

Keep the final exchange and any signed document together. Record payment and completion of conditions where required. If the rights holder approves a revised layout, retain the approved revision rather than just the email saying "looks good". Your team needs to know what that response referred to when production starts.

Before the event, turn the relevant decisions into a short production sheet. For each session, identify the approved playback or presentation file, whether cameras can record it, whether the streaming feed must be disabled, and who handles a question. Have the technician repeat the instruction back during the briefing. If the speaker brings a new laptop presentation, refer it to the programme lead before connecting it. The technician checks the version; the programme lead resolves any change with the appropriate reviewer.

Budget the activity with the permission it requires

Put rights-related costs into the activity forecast before deciding whether it makes commercial sense. Include the proposed licence, artwork preparation, approval work, specialist advice, delivery requirements and any reporting work. Use actual quotations when making the booking decision. A fee you have not been quoted is an unknown cost.

Here's a fictional screening example in US dollars, used only to explain the calculation. It assumes the organiser can obtain the required permissions and separately sell admission to the screening. It is not a licensing quote or a recommended ticket price. The room has 120 sellable places after the event's separate capacity and access assessment.

Suppose the screening fee is $600, the extra technician costs $180, and administration plus contingency costs $120. The total additional fixed cost is $900. Each screening ticket leaves $15 after taxes, payment charges and all attendance-related costs in this invented model. You need 60 sales to cover the additional fixed cost.

At 40 sales, the screening contributes $600 and loses $300 against those additional costs. At 60, it covers them. At 90, it leaves $450. Those results concern the screening only. They do not pay the convention's other costs or establish the event's overall profit.

Now suppose the quoted screening fee is $1,200 instead of $600, with the other assumptions unchanged. The additional fixed cost becomes $1,500, requiring 100 sales at $15 contribution each. That is a very different commitment in a room with 120 sellable places. You need evidence for those sales, or another way to fund the activity.

If admission is included in the main convention pass, don't invent screening ticket income. Decide what the activity contributes to the convention offer, and fund it from the actual event budget. You cannot allocate all of a pass's revenue to the screening and also count it in full against the rest of the convention.

Make the cash decision too. A licence payment may be due before you receive enough ticket money, and a cancellation may leave some costs committed. Ask what happens if the date, title or event changes. Keep the cash required and the final contribution separate when comparing programme options. Both matter when deciding whether to proceed.

Sell the programme you've confirmed

You don't necessarily need every optional session finalised before selling a general convention pass. You do need a deliverable offer and clear information about what buyers are purchasing. An unresolved attraction should not become the headline reason to pay while your team privately hopes approval will arrive.

Review the launch as a buyer would see it. Read the advertisement, event page, ticket descriptions, guest announcements and confirmation information together. Identify every specific promise that depends on a permission or approval. Check those against the current record and approved files.

You might be ready to sell admission for a confirmed programme of creator conversations and original workshops while a proposed screening remains under discussion. In that case, leave the screening out of the sales promise until it is confirmed. Ask whether the remaining programme still supports the ticket price. If it doesn't, fix the offer before launch.

Loopyah's ticket selling tools let you give ticket types releases with their own prices and quantities, with the next release opening when the current one sells out. Once the offer is ready, you can set up the agreed sales plan. Those quantities and prices still need to reflect the activities you have confirmed and the limits your team can deliver.

Use a launch review with a named decision maker. Marketing confirms that the public assets match the approved versions. Programming confirms what will happen in each paid activity. The responsible lead checks outstanding conditions and records which offers can go on sale. Keep unresolved items out of production until someone makes the relevant decision.

Have another person test the ticket description without explaining it to them. Ask what they think admission includes, whether the event appears affiliated with a particular rights holder, and which guest activities cost extra. Their answers can expose a misleading impression your team stopped noticing after weeks of looking at the design.

Plan for changes after launch and after the event

A permissions record needs maintenance because your programme will change. Give staff a simple rule: when the material, activity, audience, channel or commercial context changes, check the existing approval before using it. That applies to a new sponsor placement as much as a replacement screening.

If a rights holder raises a concern, preserve the relevant material and correspondence, identify which uses are affected, and get appropriate advice promptly. Arrange who can pause the affected publication or activity while the position is checked. A volunteer answering public comments should not be negotiating a licence or admitting liability on the organiser's behalf.

Work out the buyer impact at the same time. If the affected item was a specific paid benefit, review your obligations under the booking terms and applicable consumer law with the appropriate adviser. A general statement that the programme may change should not be your whole response. Identify the affected purchases and decide what information and remedies are required.

For communication, explain what changed, who it affects and what happens next. Update the current event information and brief the support team before distributing the announcement. Avoid leaving an old advertisement running while the customer service team explains that its headline attraction is unavailable.

Check recordings before publication, even when the live convention went to plan. An approved live session may contain material that wasn't approved for a replay. Give the editor the relevant restrictions and review the final cut against them. Our guide to avoiding livestream copyright interruptions covers the separate platform and production checks when you broadcast.

Finally, check expiry dates and future uses. A photograph approved for this edition should not automatically become next year's campaign image. Remove or replace material where the agreement requires it, complete reporting and payment obligations, and keep the evidence you need under an appropriate retention policy. Before announcing the next convention, review the new proposal against the permissions you actually have.