7 replies to this topic

[Colossus]

If you post a fan fiction here, is there some nderstanding that you own it and can use it for other web sites or something? What is for people to just copy and paste this and call it their own? There's a lot of good work i see around here but just got me thinking about someone using another poor sap's work.

[marktmurphy]

Because it would be pointless: they're not going to earn any money out of it or anything. Post someone else's work if you like, it won't make any difference to the people reading it. Someone'll spot it's another person's work and then a big argument will begin, and the person who nicked it will look stupid and be told to go away.

[chrisno1]

Having said that, who is really going to steal a Fan Fiction James Bond opus? There would be no purpose

Because it would be pointless: they're not going to earn any money out of it or anything. Post someone else's work if you like, it won't make any difference to the people reading it. Someone'll spot it's another person's work and then a big argument will begin, and the person who nicked it will look stupid and be told to go away.

Agreed.
However, as a point of interest, I do copywrite my Fan Fiction work by printing a completed copy of my manuscript and posting it to myself, using recorded delivery service and retaining all the receipts. While I acknowledge anyone can copy and paste my work, if they did they would need to alter the stories significantly to remove the James Bond character, MI6 and the 'Double O' operative trademark, other wise it would just be another Fan Fiction. I always acknowledge where the inspirations for my stories come from, as I do not wish to be infriging on anyone else's rights. However, as the prose itself, the phrase-ology, the character development, the plot line, the action, is mine alone, I can retain a copywrite. If someone stole my work and published it in physical or ebook form, I do have some rights. It is my intelllectual property afterall.

[marktmurphy]

If you want to win back the right to be sued by IFP/Eon that's up to you!

[Jim]

Having said that, who is really going to steal a Fan Fiction James Bond opus? There would be no purpose

However, as a point of interest, I do copywrite my Fan Fiction work by printing a completed copy of my manuscript and posting it to myself, using recorded delivery service and retaining all the receipts. While I acknowledge anyone can copy and paste my work, if they did they would need to alter the stories significantly to remove the James Bond character, MI6 and the 'Double O' operative trademark, other wise it would just be another Fan Fiction. I always acknowledge where the inspirations for my stories come from, as I do not wish to be infriging on anyone else's rights. However, as the prose itself, the phrase-ology, the character development, the plot line, the action, is mine alone, I can retain a copywrite. If someone stole my work and published it in physical or ebook form, I do have some rights. It is my intelllectual property afterall.

Hm. I suppose there's an interesting jurisprudential point about whether a right (or, um, "write") that cannot be acted upon is of itself a right, or one which the law should bother to uphold. One wonders what you would actually lose if someone did use your work, give that you cannot exploit it yourself.

You'd be better off copyrighting your adventurous spelling of the word "copyright". That does look unique.

[chrisno1]

Hm. I suppose there's an interesting jurisprudential point about whether a right (or, um, "write") that cannot be acted upon is of itself a right, or one which the law should bother to uphold. One wonders what you would actually lose if someone did use your work, give that you cannot exploit it yourself.

You'd be better off copyrighting your adventurous spelling of the word "copyright". That does look unique.

I'd just come back from an all night shift.... I was a bit tired. Let's face it no-one is actually going to steal my shoddy work anyway! Especially with grammar like mine!

[MkB]

Hm. I suppose there's an interesting jurisprudential point about whether a right (or, um, "write") that cannot be acted upon is of itself a right, or one which the law should bother to uphold. One wonders what you would actually lose if someone did use your work, give that you cannot exploit it yourself.

Seriously, that would make a very interesting lawsuit...
I understand chrisno1's position: of course nobody is going to copy/paste in an officially published book an "illegal" fan fiction. But what if a very talented amateur writer releases a brilliant fan fiction, or at least a fan fiction with brilliants bits - a very original plot or storyline, a fantastic characterization, literary descriptions of high standard, etc. What if a less brilliant published author decides that he is free to borrow things from the fan fiction, precisely because it's an illegal work of art? But the borrowed bits, not involving the copyrighted material, would not be illegal themselves as regards IFP (or any other institution detaining the rights to a character or novel or franchise).
I acknowledge that it sounds highly improbable, but think of the many cases of plagiarism brought out by the media. Some uninspired writers might be tempted to tap the grey area of "illegal" fan fiction, after all.

What can be done to prevent that? Not much, presumably, beyond the course of action described by chrisno1. Thinking about it, I guess that, if such a thing happened to me, I would probably not try the lawsuit path, but proudly add a line "plagiarized by X or Y" to my curriculum... Oh, and also give a phone call to X or Y's agent and publisher, asking nicely what they would be ready to do to prevent the media from learning that their protégé's imagination is so low that he's got to steal from amateur unpublished authors

[Dustin]

What can be done to prevent that? Not much, presumably, beyond the course of action described by chrisno1. Thinking about it, I guess that, if such a thing happened to me, I would probably not try the lawsuit path, but proudly add a line "plagiarized by X or Y" to my curriculum... Oh, and also give a phone call to X or Y's agent and publisher, asking nicely what they would be ready to do to prevent the media from learning that their protégé's imagination is so low that he's got to steal from amateur unpublished authors

That.

As many will be aware there recently has been a major case of that, stealing from numerous renown thriller/spy authors with utter nerve and hardly a thought for detection. The sad fact is, had the perpetrator stolen from fan fiction it's not a given he could have been held responsible. Or had been found out at all.