April 19th, 2008
So I'm browsing through Fandom!Secrets and the comments, and I see something about a fanfiction secret, specifically this person claiming that all fanfiction is illegal.
... lol wut?
Anyway, I decided that some things needed to be um... clarified, for the sake of my own sanity and possibly the sanity of others. I don't know if I'm 100% correct - it has been almost six years since I did my paper on fanfiction and popular culture, which did include a section about copyright, so my comment was from memory. But, I figured I should share this with my Creation Station people. :3
The original secret, I THINK (because person below didn't put the secret number up) was something about being upset by authors who request that fanfiction not be written by people of their works. Now that I understand, its THIS that I don't...
Their comment:
"Sorry but, the one where the person's fandom depended on the creator/author endorcing (<-lawl misspelled) fanfiction wins as biggest fail ever.
Y HALLO THAR Copywrite infringement. Authors/Creators CANNOT legally endorse fanfiction as it sets them up for huge legal battles. If they do not edorse (<-again) fanfiction, they are covering their asses from any little idiot going "THAT AUTHOR STOLE MY STORIES I NEED BAZILLIONS OF DOLLARS SUE SUE SUE!" Fanfiction is technically illegal. Just cause it's not legally enforced still doesn't make it legally OK."
My response:
"Fanfiction is only illegal if it is published and earns money directly to the writer and not the original creator of the copyrighted characters without their express consent. Fanfiction posted on the internet, with the use of a disclaimer stating that they are doing it for entertainment purposes only and not for profit negates any legality. The only time it becomes an issue is if the creator makes a personal decision that they no longer wish for a site, usually one of the bigger ones like FF.N, should be allowed to host fan works based on their own pieces. This is a rare case, and usually does not end in suing, only a simple cease and desist. However that doesn't mean that the stories cannot be posted elsewhere, like on a personal site, and that usually winds up becoming the norm after something of that nature has happened.
Plagiarism, which is what you're going on about there in the 'author stole my stories', however, is completely illegal as it is taking some one's work and copying it word for word, however it can also be negated by ownership issues. If some person comes along and claims, at random, that the people who wrote, say, Avatar the Last Air Bender actually stole his idea, he would have to show proof that his idea was created/published before any production was started on the show.
From time to time creators/owners of a work (like Stargate SG-1 for example) will give the green light to a publishing company, though, and allow additional stories to be written within the canon of a series. A lot of people consider these 'approved fan works', as often times it really is just some writer who expressed enough interest in writing fiction with pre-established characters that got the job.
Thusly, Fanfiction is not 'technically' illegal. There's just a lot going on behind the scenes of the 12 year old fan brat writing themselves in to a Naruto story."
Well, I think I was civil enough while be informative? What do you guys think? Discuss discuss!
... lol wut?
Anyway, I decided that some things needed to be um... clarified, for the sake of my own sanity and possibly the sanity of others. I don't know if I'm 100% correct - it has been almost six years since I did my paper on fanfiction and popular culture, which did include a section about copyright, so my comment was from memory. But, I figured I should share this with my Creation Station people. :3
The original secret, I THINK (because person below didn't put the secret number up) was something about being upset by authors who request that fanfiction not be written by people of their works. Now that I understand, its THIS that I don't...
Their comment:
"Sorry but, the one where the person's fandom depended on the creator/author endorcing (<-lawl misspelled) fanfiction wins as biggest fail ever.
Y HALLO THAR Copywrite infringement. Authors/Creators CANNOT legally endorse fanfiction as it sets them up for huge legal battles. If they do not edorse (<-again) fanfiction, they are covering their asses from any little idiot going "THAT AUTHOR STOLE MY STORIES I NEED BAZILLIONS OF DOLLARS SUE SUE SUE!" Fanfiction is technically illegal. Just cause it's not legally enforced still doesn't make it legally OK."
My response:
"Fanfiction is only illegal if it is published and earns money directly to the writer and not the original creator of the copyrighted characters without their express consent. Fanfiction posted on the internet, with the use of a disclaimer stating that they are doing it for entertainment purposes only and not for profit negates any legality. The only time it becomes an issue is if the creator makes a personal decision that they no longer wish for a site, usually one of the bigger ones like FF.N, should be allowed to host fan works based on their own pieces. This is a rare case, and usually does not end in suing, only a simple cease and desist. However that doesn't mean that the stories cannot be posted elsewhere, like on a personal site, and that usually winds up becoming the norm after something of that nature has happened.
Plagiarism, which is what you're going on about there in the 'author stole my stories', however, is completely illegal as it is taking some one's work and copying it word for word, however it can also be negated by ownership issues. If some person comes along and claims, at random, that the people who wrote, say, Avatar the Last Air Bender actually stole his idea, he would have to show proof that his idea was created/published before any production was started on the show.
From time to time creators/owners of a work (like Stargate SG-1 for example) will give the green light to a publishing company, though, and allow additional stories to be written within the canon of a series. A lot of people consider these 'approved fan works', as often times it really is just some writer who expressed enough interest in writing fiction with pre-established characters that got the job.
Thusly, Fanfiction is not 'technically' illegal. There's just a lot going on behind the scenes of the 12 year old fan brat writing themselves in to a Naruto story."
Well, I think I was civil enough while be informative? What do you guys think? Discuss discuss!
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lol but I don't care if someone wants to write about me, go nuts.