Introduction: today, such objects of civil legal relations as merch products (stylized clothing, paraphernalia) and merchandising activity (visiting theme parks, quests, and other activities that allow you to immerse yourself in the world of your favorite movies or books) are becoming increasingly important. It is no longer enough for consumers to receive standardized goods; they need impressions that meet their unique aesthetic and cultural preferences. The relevance of studying these objects of civil law lies in the need to improve the regulation of their turnover, which in turn will contribute to the development of economic legal relations in society. The purpose of the study is to evaluate various aspects of the legal institutions under consideration to develop doctrinal and law enforcement proposals for their improvement. Methods: the tasks are solved using axiological-normative, system, logical, dialectical, structural-functional, comparative, formal-legal, theoretical-prognostic methods. Results: the paper examines the legal aspects of the phenomenon of fan activity and related issues of intellectual property rights protection; analyzes the duality of the legal nature of derivative works created by fans of certain audiovisual or literary works. Conclusions: based on the results of the research, it is concluded that it is necessary to legally determine the criteria for processing a work which allow establishing in which cases merchandising activity does not require permission from the copyright holders, as well as taking into account legal, economic and cultural aspects when processing works.