I have a family member who is scrupulous, and it is driving me nuts.

This person is scrupulous about many things, but especially Copyright Law.

If this person doodled a sketch of Mario, they would confess it in confession. Any use of copyrighted or licensed characters, melodies, art, etc., even for inspiration, is wrong for this person. That is to say, any enjoyment you didn't directly pay for. If you found yourself humming an old Mega Man theme, but you don't currently own a legit copy of Mega Man 2 (the game it was taken from), you would be sinning.

Ever heard of "fair use"? Give me a break!

So any fan-art is not legitimate for this person. Even if it's done by a fan, for no profit.

There is a website called OCRemix.org which is dedicated to remixes of popular classic video game music. All songs are free, and done by fans of the songs. The original melodies might be in there, but the remix artist has to actually do something with the original song, to make it different enough to be included in the database. The website has strict inclusion guidelines.

This isn't some back-alley torrent or warez site. This is a website that's been around for years. If what they were doing was illegal, it would have been shut down long ago. And one has to admit that our laws are adequate to protect copyrights and intellectual property. Our laws might be deficient when it comes to protecting the unborn, defending traditional marriage, etc. but we have plenty of laws protecting software, music, and inventions (intellectual property). This isn't China.

So called piracy and copyright infringement laws are a Jєω construct. They try to equate it with stealing and theft.