Fan Art on a Custom Skateboard Deck: What You Can Print

Printing a character, a logo or band artwork you didn't create on a skateboard deck needs permission, and the deck being for you doesn't supply it. Copyright protects the artwork, trade marks often protect the names and logos, and both apply whoever does the printing. The routes that work: your own art, public-domain works, written permission from the rights holder, or an officially licensed deck. The last section says what Skateboard Personalizado does with the designs it receives.

This is general information, not legal advice. It sets out how EU law approaches these questions and links to every text it relies on. Most copyright exceptions are optional, so each EU country has its own mix, and applying them to one design in one country is a question for a lawyer there. Skateboard Personalizado's decks are printed in Spain and shipped to Spain and the rest of the EU, which is why this page follows EU law and looks at Spain's rules in particular.

Can I put a character, a band logo or an album cover on my own deck?

Only with the rights holder's permission, unless an exception in your country's law covers that exact use. "It's just for me" matters, but it isn't a permission in itself, and it carries least weight when a business does the printing: the private-use section explains why. The usual cases, sorted:

If you are the band, the cover is still its designer's work, and the permissions you need are in band merch on skateboard decks.

What does the law actually protect: the drawing, the name or the person?

Three different rights can sit on the same deck, and each can belong to someone different. Copyright covers the artwork, trade marks cover names and logos used in trade, and some countries add rights over a real person's image.

Copyright: the drawing, the cover, the photo

Copyright protects the artwork itself: a character's drawn design, an album cover, an illustration, a photograph. EU law gives authors the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit its reproduction "by any means and in any form, in whole or in part" (Directive 2001/29/EC, art. 2), and its distribution to the public "by sale or otherwise" (art. 4). Printing an image on a deck is a reproduction; selling decks, or handing them out to the public, is distribution.

"In part" matters. The Court of Justice has held that parts of a work are protected when they contain elements that express the author's own intellectual creation (Infopaq, C-5/08, para. 39), so cropping a character down to its face doesn't, by itself, take it outside copyright. Protection is automatic, with no registration and no © notice needed (Berne Convention, art. 5(2)), and original photographs are covered like any other work (Directive 2006/116/EC, art. 6).

EU law has no open-ended "fair use" defence like the American one. The Directive's exceptions are an exhaustive list (recital 32), and most of them are optional, so which ones exist depends on the country.

Trade marks: the name and the logo

A band's name, a character's name, a franchise's logo: these are often registered as trade marks, and a trade mark works differently from copyright. The owner of an EU trade mark can stop others "using in the course of trade" an identical or similar sign, in the cases the Regulation lists (Regulation (EU) 2017/1001, art. 9(2)), and affixing the sign to goods or offering goods under it are among the acts it can prohibit (art. 9(3)). National trade marks follow the same rule (Directive (EU) 2015/2436, art. 10).

"Course of trade" is the phrase that matters. In a case about unofficial football scarves, the Court of Justice described it as use "in the context of commercial activity with a view to economic advantage and not as a private matter", and held that a notice on the seller's stall saying the goods were not official did not affect its conclusion (Arsenal v Reed, C-206/01, paras 40 and 57). So selling decks with a band's logo is trade-mark territory, and labelling them "unofficial" may not help; designing one deck for your own wall isn't trading at all. How the law treats a print business that reproduces a logo on one private customer's instructions is less settled, and this page won't pretend otherwise.

Two more things worth knowing. A stylised logo can also be protected by copyright as artwork, so the two rights can stack. And a mark with a reputation in the EU is protected even on goods it isn't registered for, where use without due cause takes unfair advantage of, or harms, its distinctiveness or reputation (art. 9(2)(c)). So finding that a famous name isn't registered for skateboards, which sit in class 28 of the Nice Classification, doesn't settle the question. TMview, a free search tool that covers the EUIPO and the national offices of EU countries, shows what is registered and for which goods.

Real people: musicians, athletes and actors

A photograph of a musician carries the photographer's copyright, whoever is in it. Some EU countries also protect a person's image against commercial use: in Spain, using someone's name, voice or image "for advertising, commercial or similar purposes" counts as an unlawful intrusion (Organic Law 1/1982, art. 7.6). A famous name can also be a registered trade mark in its own right. A deck with a musician's face on it can need two or three separate permissions.

Isn't a deck for my own private use allowed?

Sometimes, in some countries, and least clearly when a business prints it for you. EU law lets each country decide whether to allow private copies and on what conditions, and the conditions matter more than the intention.

The Copyright Directive allows, but doesn't require, an exception for "reproductions on any medium made by a natural person for private use and for ends that are neither directly nor indirectly commercial", with fair compensation for rights holders (art. 5(2)(b)). Three limits follow from the text and the case law:

• It's optional, and worded differently in each country. The Directive says Member States "may" provide it.
• The source has to be lawful. National laws can't extend it to copies made from unlawful sources (ACI Adam, C-435/12), so an image taken from an unauthorised upload doesn't qualify even for a purely private copy.
• It covers copying, not publishing or selling. It applies to the reproduction right only, so posting the design publicly is outside it, and selling the deck fails the non-commercial condition.

Then there's the printer. The Court of Justice accepts that people relying on the exception may use "copying services provided by a third party" (VCAST, C-265/16, para. 35), but it reads the exception strictly (para. 32), and in the same case it refused to extend it to a commercial cloud-recording service that actively involved itself in making the copies without the rights holders' consent. National laws then draw their own lines:

• Spain, where Skateboard Personalizado's decks are printed, limits the exception to copies made "sin asistencia de terceros" (without the assistance of third parties) by a natural person, for a private use that is "no profesional ni empresarial" (neither professional nor business), from a lawful source (Intellectual Property Act, art. 31.2). A print you order and pay a company for is made with that company's assistance, so on the wording of the Spanish text the private-copy route isn't open to it.
• Germany lets someone else make the copy for you only if no payment is received for it, or if it is a copy on paper or a similar medium made by a photomechanical or similar process (Copyright Act, section 53(1)).

Put together: for a deck that a business prints and is paid for, the private-copy route is uncertain at EU level and, on the plain wording of some national laws, Spain's among them, not available. A deck for your own room is the case most people assume is fine, but the exception's conditions decide it, not the intention, which is why print services ask you to confirm that you hold the rights (see below).

Is fan art legal on a deck, or does it count as parody?

Drawing a character yourself creates a new drawing, not a new character. The rights in the original design stay with its owner, so printing your version on products generally needs their permission, unless it genuinely qualifies as caricature, parody or pastiche in a country that allows them.

Legally, fan art is usually an adaptation, a new version of an existing work. The Berne Convention gives authors "the exclusive right of authorizing adaptations, arrangements and other alterations of their works" (art. 12), and national laws build on it. Spain's Intellectual Property Act, for instance, gives the rights in an adaptation to whoever made it, but keeps the original author's right to authorise its exploitation, "especially" its reproduction and distribution (art. 21.2). A deck printed from your fan art is a reproduction of that adaptation, so the permission question comes back, however much of the drawing is yours.

The exception people reach for is "caricature, parody or pastiche", which EU countries may adopt (Directive 2001/29/EC, art. 5(3)(k)). The Court of Justice has defined the two terms that matter most here:

• Parody must evoke an existing work "while being noticeably different from it" and be "an expression of humour or mockery", and applying the exception must strike a fair balance with the rights holder's interests (Deckmyn, C-201/13).
• Pastiche, defined in 2026, covers creations that evoke existing works while being noticeably different from them, and use some of their characteristic elements "to engage with those works in an artistic or creative dialogue that is recognisable as such": an overt stylistic imitation, a tribute, or humorous or critical engagement. The Court added that pastiche is not a catch-all and cannot cover concealed imitations or plagiarism (Pelham II, C-590/23).

Two consequences for decks. A faithful copy of a character's official look isn't "noticeably different" from it, so it fails the first condition of both. And every exception must also pass the Directive's general test: it applies only "in certain special cases which do not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work" and don't unreasonably prejudice the rights holder's legitimate interests (art. 5(5)), a real hurdle when a deck competes with licensed merchandise of the same character.

Where these exceptions exist, the national versions differ. Germany permits reproduction, distribution and communication to the public for caricature, parody and pastiche (section 51a); Spain's parody rule applies as long as the parody creates no risk of confusion with the original and does no harm to the original work or its author (art. 39). Whether a particular drawing qualifies is for national courts to decide, case by case.

Two last distinctions. Copyright exceptions don't switch off trade marks: a parody drawing that carries a band's real logo on decks offered for sale raises a trade-mark question of its own. And since 2019 every EU country must let users rely on caricature, parody and pastiche when they upload content to online content-sharing platforms (Directive (EU) 2019/790, art. 17(7)); that rule covers uploads to those platforms, not printing on objects.

Is a design "inspired by" an anime, a comic or a band different from copying?

Yes. Copyright protects expressions, not ideas, so a genre's conventions are open to everyone while a specific character's design is not. The Court of Justice puts it in those terms: protection may be granted "to expressions, but not to ideas, procedures, methods of operation or mathematical concepts as such" (Levola Hengelo, C-310/17, para. 39).

A character you invent, with your own name, face, silhouette and outfit, drawn in a manga-influenced style or with spiky metal lettering you drew yourself, is your own work from the moment you make it. The line is crossed when you reproduce the recognisable creative parts of someone else's character: in the Court's terms, elements that express that author's own intellectual creation (Infopaq, para. 39). A new character that shares a genre with a famous one is a different act from redrawing the famous one.

• Give it its own name, not a variation on an existing one.
• Design the face, silhouette and outfit from scratch; don't trace or lightly edit existing art.
• Leave out titles, logos and lettering taken from the original.
• Borrow the mood, not the character: a palette or a drawing style isn't what makes a character someone else's; its specific design is.

If I pay an artist to draw it, do I own the character?

No. Paying an artist buys their work, not rights they don't have. If the drawing shows an existing character, the artist can't license the character whatever you pay: the commission is still fan art, with everything above. If the design is original, the copyright starts with the artist, and you get what the agreement gives you.

So put the agreement in writing, wherever you are. In Spain it's a legal requirement: any "cesión" of exploitation rights, exclusive or not, has to be made in writing (Intellectual Property Act, art. 45), and one that doesn't say how long or where is limited to five years and to the country where it was granted (art. 43.2). What the agreement should name:

1. The design, attached or clearly described.
2. The use: reproducing it on skateboard decks.
3. How many: one deck for you, or a run.
4. Whether you may only keep it, or also sell, raffle or give decks away.
5. Where, and for how long.
6. The file you'll get: big enough to cover the deck. The artwork guide lists the pixels each width needs.

What are the safe ways to get a deck with a character on it?

Five routes, and each one either needs nobody's permission or gets it in writing.

1. Invent your own. Your character is yours from the first sketch. Build it in the editor, or draw it in your own software on the print template, which has the deck's outline at real size for each width. The templates in Skateboard Personalizado's editor are drawn from shapes and colour and contain no third-party characters or logos, so they're a clean starting point too. There's more on building a design from scratch in how to design your own deck.
2. Use public-domain art. The EU baseline is the author's life plus 70 years, counted from 1 January of the year after death, and from the death of the last surviving author for joint works (Directive 2006/116/EC, arts 1 and 8): in 2026, that frees authors who died in 1955 or earlier. It isn't the whole story. Countries could keep longer terms that were already running in 1995 (art. 10), and Spain does: authors who died before 7 December 1987 keep the 80 years of Spain's 1879 law (Intellectual Property Act, transitional provision 4), so there only those who died in 1945 or earlier are free in 2026. Works by non-EU authors from outside the EU can expire sooner (art. 7). Later versions of a character, with features added by other authors, can still be protected when the first version isn't, and the name can remain a registered trade mark. Take the file from the institution that holds the original: the artwork guide lists open-access archives and what each licence label means.
3. License an artist's original work. Commission something new, or ask an independent artist to license an existing piece, with the terms in writing as above.
4. Ask the rights holder. For an existing character or band, the clean route is their permission, in writing. No reply is not a yes.
5. Or buy the official deck. If what you want is the licensed character itself, an officially licensed deck comes with the rights already cleared. The next section is about telling one apart.

Your own company's logo is the easy case: the business that owns it is the one ordering. Custom decks for teams and offices covers that.

How can I tell an official licensed deck from a bootleg?

Check with the rights holder, not the listing: an official deck is one the band, studio or publisher can confirm, because it sells it, lists it or announced it. The European Commission's customs service publishes general tips for spotting fake and infringing goods, and most of them carry straight over to decks:

• Start from the rights holder. Look for the deck in the official store of the band, studio or publisher, or among the retailers it names, and for the collaboration announced on both sides' official channels. When in doubt, the Commission's advice is to check the website of whoever makes the genuine product.
• Read the product itself. Look for a notice naming the rights holder, such as a © or ® line on the deck, its label or its packaging. A missing notice is a warning sign; a notice on its own proves little, because notices can be copied too.
• Check the packaging and the logo. The Commission notes that the packaging of infringing goods often lacks the manufacturer's and importer's address, and that logos may be badly reproduced and trade marks misspelled.
• Treat an unusually low price as a signal. Not every fake is cheaper, the Commission says, but a suspiciously low price is still a good indicator.
• Take the seller's words literally. "Inspired by", "fan-made", "tribute" and "unofficial" usually mean the product isn't licensed. They're honest labels, not permissions.
• Ask. The Commission recommends asking online sellers precise questions, and a seller of a licensed deck can say who licensed it.

These checks are general on purpose: this page doesn't vouch for, or against, any particular seller or deck.

What do print-on-demand services ask before printing a character?

Their terms usually put the rights question on you. The wording varies, but three clauses turn up again and again:

• A promise from you that you own the design or hold the rights to use it, typically covering copyright, trade marks and a person's image or publicity rights.
• A right to say no: they can refuse to print a design, remove it, or cancel an order that may infringe someone's rights.
• An indemnity: if a rights holder brings a claim over your design, you cover the service's costs.

Some services also state that they aren't obliged to review what customers upload. So an order that goes through isn't a clearance, and a design that's refused isn't necessarily a finding that it infringes, only that the service won't carry the risk.

What does Skateboard Personalizado do with designs that include characters, logos or band artwork?

We print what you order, for you. The rights to what's in it are yours to hold, and here is what that means in practice.

1. We don't review every design before printing it. When you place an order you tick a box, before paying, confirming that what the design carries (photos, drawings, logos, text) is yours or that you have permission to use it; our terms and conditions say the same. An order that goes through isn't a clearance: you answer for the content, as with every print service.
2. The deck being for you isn't a permission. As the private-use section explains, Spain's private-copy exception doesn't cover a print you commission and pay a third party for (Intellectual Property Act, art. 31.2). A character, a band's logo or an album cover still belongs to whoever created it, whether the deck ends up on your wall or under your feet.
3. We can cancel before printing, and we refund in full. If we see that a design copies a work, a trade mark or another person's image, or if whoever holds the rights asks us to, we can cancel the order before it goes to print and return the full amount. The same goes for content that incites hatred or that the law prohibits; our terms say so.
4. The gallery is different. Publishing a design in the gallery lets anyone order a deck with it, and its designer earns a cut: that is commercial exploitation, not private use. So the gallery only takes designs that are the work of the person who uploads them. A tribute that doesn't copy (an aesthetic, an era, a nod) is welcome; the logo, the cover or the character isn't. Sharing a design by link is not publishing it: the link shows the deck to whoever has it, and the design stays out of the gallery.
5. If you want your band's official deck, buy it from them. Or ask them for a licence. If you want something of your own, design a tribute: the section on "inspired by" says where the line runs.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

The legal texts and official pages this article relies on, consulted in September 2026.

• Directive 2001/29/EC on copyright in the information society — arts 2, 4 and 5, recital 32
• Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 on the European Union trade mark — art. 9
• Directive (EU) 2015/2436 approximating national trade mark laws — art. 10
• Directive 2006/116/EC on the term of protection of copyright — arts 1, 6, 7, 8 and 10
• Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright in the Digital Single Market — art. 17(7)
• Court of Justice, Infopaq, C-5/08 (2009) — protection of parts of a work
• Court of Justice, Arsenal v Reed, C-206/01 (2002) — use in the course of trade
• Court of Justice, ACI Adam, C-435/12 (2014) — private copies from unlawful sources
• Court of Justice, Deckmyn, C-201/13 (2014) — the meaning of parody
• Court of Justice, VCAST, C-265/16 (2017) — private copies and third-party services
• Court of Justice, Levola Hengelo, C-310/17 (2018) — expressions, not ideas
• Court of Justice, Pelham II, C-590/23 (2026) — the meaning of pastiche
• Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works — arts 5(2) and 12
• Spain: Intellectual Property Act (Royal Legislative Decree 1/1996) — arts 21, 31, 39, 43 and 45, transitional provision 4
• Spain: Law of 10 January 1879 on intellectual property — art. 6
• Spain: Organic Law 1/1982 on the civil protection of honour, privacy and one's own image — art. 7
• Germany: Copyright Act (UrhG), English translation — sections 51a and 53
• Germany: Urheberrechtsgesetz, § 53, the authentic German text
• European Commission, Taxation and Customs Union: identify fake goods
• WIPO, Nice Classification, class 28
• TMview trade mark search