living in denial

[lagilman]

So, the results of my stance on the "fanfiction: pro or con" panel at Lunacon, and the resulting article in the NJ Star Ledger are beginning to bear fuit. Bitter fruit, at that -- have started getting hate mail.

People, get a clue. When I say that it's illegal, that's because it IS. Really. The courts have so-ruled, and it's been upheld. Argue against copyright. Push the fight to get rid of it, if you really think that's what's Right. For now, it exists. And if the copyright holder does not fight known infringment, they lose the right to claim copyright, which means that can't earn money off thier works. This is called "damaging your own livlihood."


Telling me I shouldn't be looking to make money off my work, because it's depriving you of your 'right' to create fanfic? Let's see you turn that around and hit your own paycheck, child. See how stringent you are about 'freedom' then.

Hell, I love fanfic. I wrote fanfic. I think writing fanfic is a great fannish thing. But keep it lo-key. Allow the official copyright holders to not see it. Don't trumpet yourself where they have no choice but to take note, especially the one-owner material (as opposed to media work, where there's more room to argue against the 'reasonable confusion in the market."). But remember that it's against established law, so when you're told to stop, you have to stop or face consequences. Why are you bitching at me for pointing that out?


Oh. And telling (threatening) me that you're not going to buy any of my books from now on? Hey, that's your consumer's privilege. I'm not about to cower in my shoes and stop speaking truth in public because of it.


But stop to think about what could happen, in a world where writers, and musicians, and actors don't get royalties from their work, and their income drops even closer to nil. You think you're still going to be getting these stories and shows you form fandoms around? Good luck.

Comments

[thecityofdis.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you have to deal with the hate mail and abuse. You certainly don't deserve that.

I would second and third, however, the comments about the conflation of copyright/trademark infringement. I have no problem with an author publicly declaring that they will not allow fan fiction of their work - that should be respected immediately and without question. But there are also many authors who publicly endorse such endeavors, and I've yet to see them lose a thing.

In conclusion: people are stupid.

[djonn]

But there are also many authors who publicly endorse such endeavors, and I've yet to see them lose a thing.

Mmm; the Marion Zimmer Bradley case comes to mind. It seems fairly well-established that that particular dispute deep-sixed the novel MZB was working on over which the disagreement arose, and it stopped the Darkover shared-world anthologies dead in their tracks afterward. And that was pre-Internet....there are authors who were formerly fanfic-friendly who've modified their positions in the wake of the realities of Web distribution (Mercedes Lackey, for one).

[thecityofdis.livejournal.com]

You're right, I forgot about the MZB case. That was an awful one.

Like I said, the second an author decides they don't want to allow derivative works, I'll respect that. But the fact that there are authors that have changed their positions doesn't change the fact that there are still authors who haven't.

JK Rowling, Tamora Pierce, and KA Applegate all publicly endorse fanfiction, and are all wildly successful and have written for the demographic most likely - since the internet boom - to produce fanfiction. I don't think there's any legal qualms involved in writing and even publicizing non-profit derivative works with endorsement from the author.

[naominovik.livejournal.com]

From what I've read, the MZB case had complications. She specifically wrote to the fanfic writer in question acknowledging she'd read the fan's work and asking if she could take an element from the story to use in her own book.

Once she did that, she basically set herself up -- when the fan refused, if MZB went ahead with publication anyway, the fan could show up in court, display the letter, and say, "Hey, look, she *acknowledges in writing* that this element is taken from my work." And it would have been hard for MZB to make a case that she didn't need to get the fan's permission when she had in fact gone out of her way to ask for that very permission.

MZB was only vulnerable because she was reading the fanfic and probably only because she made an open acknowledgement of connection out of an impulse to be generous and gracious. Which sucks hugely, and the fan was clearly both stupid and unbelievably obnoxious, but it still doesn't mean that allowing fanfic to go on puts you at risk.