Is fan fiction in any danger?

Well, for one, that's what agents and three-chapter excerpts are for, as well as cover letters and plot summaries.

Dana

 

i am in no danger from any law suites.
all of you are.
MWHAHAHAHAHahaha....
ok, tht wasnt as funny as i originally planned...
i make no sense somtimes.

 

From this article:

Eyespot?s creative technology allows Lucasfilm to protect its intellectual property while offering a media playground for fans to have a fun and accessible experience due to our product?s extreme ease of use
With an innovative, interactive home-page design that allows users to navigate to multiple "Star Wars" worlds, a new video focus, and groundbreaking ?Web 2.0? features ? including a unique online multi-media mixing platform from Eyespot ? the new StarWars.com will unveil its redesigned website on May 25 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the "Star Wars" Saga.

Among the most compelling features of the newly redesigned StarWars.com is the incorporation of an online video-editing tool provided by Eyespot. It allows users to add their own video shots to more than 250 scenes and music taken from all six "Star Wars" films and create their own "Star Wars" movies to share with others.


This is little more than a visual representation of fanfic. If LFL ever tries to shut down fanfic, I think they'll have a very hard time coming up with reasons that trump their promotion of fanfilms.

In other words, just don't make money off it, and we'll be fine.

 

I like the idea of bringing copyright law enforcement into the dream relm.
Because it would be hilarious to literally wake up one morning and be slapped with a lawsuit.

 

Don't people usually put a disclaimer on their work when they put it on thenet basically saying "these characters, events, locations aren't mine I just like to do my own thing with them"?

 

Some do, some don't because they think it's a given or are too lazy or forget.

 

What is the FanLib fiasco? I've really been out of the park.

 

I'm also curious as to what the fanlib thing is. I took a gander at their website; despite being terribly user unfriendly, I didn't catch anything immediately wrong with it.

-Krystal

 

It basically boils down to the fact that they're "publishing" fanfiction and charging for it.


Dana

 

Oh.


I thought this thread was about the recent debacle over at the LiveJournal community, when LJ staff started taking down all the Harry Potter Fanfiction.

I wasn't aware of this other, slightly shadier facet.

 

The debacle on LJ had nothing to do with fanfiction, but with a few overzealous, inattentive people who decided to get rid of journals that listed such things as "incest" in their interests. Ostensibly, this was to clear out all the pedophiles and people promoting incest.


Dana

 

I hate to be a thread-necro, but...

I heard about a FanFic (I won't name names) that got stolen off the Net and was actually being published as a real version of JK Rowling's Deathly Hollows. Apparently there were a bunch of people in Latin America (I think that's where) that were selling the book for real cheap and marketing it as a leaked copy of the real version. Supposedly they were making quite a bit of money off of it too. That was kind of illegal and they got nailed for it.

Anywho, /agree with above posters - put a disclaimer somewhere, don't make money off of it, and Fanfiction will be fine. And even if it wasn't, I don't think that would stop most ff writers - we're too nuts about it. It would just spark underground organizations for sharing of fanfiction and it would have to be taken off of official sites like here.

Oh, and I lol'd at the copyright infringment with dreams. That would be kind of embarrassing if you got slapped with a lawsuit for having a romantic dream about your favorite Star Wars character.

"Whatchoo in for?"

"Homicide. You?"

"Had a dream about <insert character name>?"

"Really? What kind of dream?"

"Errr..."

 

LOL, that's what I thought as well.


Like everyone else has said, it depends on the creator and depends on what you're doing with it. I can't remember who, but I know there is some author that has banned people from writing fan fic in her fandom.

George doesn't have a problem with SW fan fic unless you're like that lady who sold her fan fic on Amazon. THEN LFL steps in and has a problem with you.

 

FanFiction.net has a short list of authors that refuse to allow fanfics related to their work to be archived on the site, so I would assume those are the ones you have to watch out for.

 

one danger to my fanfics: my evil RL

 

Yeah, people like Melanie Rawn and Anne McCaffrey really don't like it. Rowling, on the other hand, really does.

 

There seems to be some confusion as to whether or not us writing fanfiction invalidates someone's copyright on their work if they allow/turn a blind eye to what we're doing. I've heard some say that it has no effect, and others say that it becomes public domain if they let people write fanfiction. I know that's why some authors protest fanfiction, but I find that those authors tend to have a smaller fandom than the ones who encourage their fans.


Dana

 

I attended a talk at Dragoncon one year where one author said that when she consulted her attorney, said attorney told her that she had to pursue her copyright with regards to fanfiction or she would lose her copyright to her own work. Whether the attorney was right or not, the author felt that she had to do it. It wasn't a well known author but she was quite upset about it. Other authors on the panel ranged from encouraging fanfic to a thorough dislike of it. One of them complained that when she googled her works, the fanfiction came up first on the google list - she wasn't amused.

Personally, I think it's okay so long as you don't make any money off it and don't impinge on the author's income.

 

I think the issue of copyright comes up when someone, yes, tries to make money off of someone else's work. If it isn't caught or challenged, it can throw into doubt the issue of who actually owns the work. At least, I can see how that would be the conclusion on the authors' parts.

I'm in the final stages of the first draft of my novel, what will hopefully be the first in a series, and I've already decided that as long as readers realise that their work is not canon to mine, and that I'll squash them like little bugs if they try to make money off of my characters, I'm okay with them writing fanfic. I don't view it as "Gasp! My work isn't good enough!" I see it more as, these people love these characters and this story so much, they want it to continue.


Dana

 

While the statute of limitations may expire on bringing legal action against an alleged copyright infringement, the fact that a copyright holder has not pursued action against alleged infringement DOES NOT make it public domain, nor does it mean that they lose their copyrights.

Again, whether someone tries to make money off of someone else?s work IS NOT the test of whether copyright infringement has occurred. It is merely one thing that MAY be evaluated in considering a DEFENSE to copyright infringement.

 

I agree but it was the author's fear of loss that led her to pursue it. Her attorney may have told her the wrong thing or she may have misinterpreted it. Either way, she felt that she had to do so.

But I'm not worried about SW fanfic disappearing. After all, Lucas has pretty much endorsed fanfilms (even to the point of having software available to make them). Though CIV and CE was adamently against having fanfiction distributed at the cons, the fanfilms could be a strong case for SW fanfic remaining untouched.