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Where is the Legal line with Fan Fiction


10 replies to this topic

#1 Xenobia

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Posted 28 March 2002 - 07:29 PM

I had tried to start this discussion a few days ago, but unfotunately the topic was lost somehow. Nevertheless, I feel this might be an interesting topic for us all to think about.

Fan fiction is written with love by fans. For whatever the reason, fans take the characters they love the most and put them in situations of their own creation. And that's where the fun begins:

The fans create the situations, and perhaps a few characters, but the main characters belong to someone else!

When we borrow characters it is obvious (or is it?) that they do not belong to us. We do not borrow with malicious intent, and yet we do not have the blessing of Glidrose or Eon to do this. Are fan fiction writers committing a crime in that we are using copyrighted material for our own purposes?

And what of the idea of plagarism? The topic has taken on new life in the USA, as a few well placed academics have been forced to admit that they borrowed huge portions of printed texts from other writers without proper acknowledgement. When fan fiction writers sit down and type out their stories what are we doing?

Since fan fiction is just that -- fan fiction -- there are very regulations on that. What happens when one fan fiction writer completely rips off another? Does the begrudged writer have any recourse?

I am quite curious to hear your thoughts and feeling on this matter.

Cheers,

Xenobia

#2 ShockTroop22

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Posted 29 March 2002 - 12:12 AM

Blue Eyes (28 Mar, 2002 11:22 p.m.):
However, as long as its not for profit you'll find Glidrose, Eon and MGM will just ignore you.


Is that why CBn is a non-profit making site Dan? Or do you and Dave, have your millions stashed away somewhere?
Dont forget about the rest of the staff when your picking up the key's for your new Ferrarai 355 Spyder. :)

#3 Blue Eyes

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Posted 28 March 2002 - 11:22 PM

I said it on a post in the other site (Where are all the old posts Dave, please tell me you didn't delete them all? :) )

Anyway, you own no rights to James Bond so technically you can't use him or any of the related in anyway. However, as long as its not for profit you'll find Glidrose, Eon and MGM will just ignore you.

#4 The Admiral

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Posted 29 March 2002 - 09:35 AM

...this is what some people kind of do when "copyrighting" something themselves. They post all of the material to themselves and when they get it back, they leave it with the post date on it. That way if there was any legal battle of it, you'd win as you'd have the date of post etc...

#5 RossMan

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Posted 28 March 2002 - 08:52 PM

I always thought it only became illegal if you make money off of it, otherwise it's just for entertainment purposes.

#6 ShockTroop22

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Posted 28 March 2002 - 08:29 PM

I think that that the law states, that we are allowed to do this aslong as it is on a non-profit, and is private useage basis. Im not sure about this, but this is how the copyright law's deal with copying CD's and DVD's. It say's that you can make up a back-up copy for your private-usage, so long as you are not selling copies, or making a profit upon it.

I would have thought that these laws, are similar to what the whole "fan-fic/art/games etc" is based around. Also, by doing this, it is easy/freey PR for for Eon. Either way, i dont think we've been called by Eon to date, and so everyone is happy. Good discusssion topic though. I might be wrong about what i put above. :)

#7 Icephoenix

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Posted 29 March 2002 - 09:12 AM

...or tell as many people about it as possible before you release it so you get some backup :) And if u see urs somewhere else 'by someone else' u got backup :)

#8 The Admiral

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Posted 29 March 2002 - 09:06 AM

Dan: all the posts are still there.

All money that CBN makes (through donations mainly) goes back into CBN. We've been updating the server that the site is hosted on with all the money, as without that, CBN would be no more.

#9 walther

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Posted 29 March 2002 - 06:20 AM

This is just off the top of my head but I would have to say, date the fanfic. If somebody notices that you worte a fanfic on say 6/3/01 and the perp posts his "stolen material" on 8/16/02, it's may be kinda obvious he didn't write it. I may be wrong about this, but what the hey...

#10 Xenobia

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Posted 29 March 2002 - 05:35 AM

Blue Eyes (28 Mar, 2002 11:22 p.m.):
I said it on a post in the other site (Where are all the old posts Dave, please tell me you didn't delete them all? :) )

Anyway, you own no rights to James Bond so technically you can't use him or any of the related in anyway. However, as long as its not for profit you'll find Glidrose, Eon and MGM will just ignore you.


But that is the whole point of this! I don't want Eon to ignore me -- I want them to hire me! I want to write the next screenplay! ;-)

OK...to sum up so far, we know that as long as it is for private usage, and no profits are made, we are safe with our Fan Fiction.

But what happens when someone steals your fanfic? It's your story and you know it, but someone else's name is on it.

What do you do then?

-- Xen

#11 Icephoenix

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Posted 29 March 2002 - 04:11 AM

Ditto, just as long as you dont make money off it. lol, If Dan and Dave did make a bundle off CBn, I'm sure they would be celebrating in prison :)