COPYRIGHT: ISSUES :
LITERATURE: POPULAR: FICTION: FAN FICTION:
Copyright Issues and Controversy Regarding Fan Fiction: Some
Resources to Consider


This is a small collection of sources regarding Fan Fiction in terms of
Copyright issues related to this web and newer literature genre.


WEBBIB0708


FAQ about Fan Fiction -- Chilling Effects Clearinghouse
<http://www.chillingeffects.org/fanfic/faq.cgi>

What are film and merchandising rights?

Q: What is FanFic?

Q: What are the major elements of FanFic?

Q: Do fan fiction writers have a free speech right to publish their work?

Q: What kinds of things are copyrighted?

Q: Is FanFic an illegal act of copying?

Q: How can I tell if a character I have used is copyright protected?

Q: What is fair use and how does it relate to Fan Fiction?

Q: Is FanFic an illegal act of creating derivative works?

Q: What about a fictional world and the events described in the world? Are
they copyrightable? Can I use those in my story?

Q: I purchased the movie, book, etc. Doesnt that mean I can do what I want
with it?

Q: How long does a copyright last?

Q: How likely is copying to be found (by a court) and what are the
possible remedies?

Q: How do companies usually react to FanFic?

Q: What liabilities could ISPs face? (And what can FanFic authors expect
from their ISPs?)

Q: What benefit does an author credit provide?

Q: What are some examples of copyright actions against FanFic authors?

Q: When is a trademark issue involved in FanFic?

Q: What are some examples of trademark actions against FanFic authors?

Q: What are the basics of copyright law that could affect FanFic?

Q: What are the basics of trademark law that could affect FanFic?

Q: How can marketing affect FanFic?

Q: What rights are associated with a movie or TV show?

Q: Is sexually explicit Fan Fiction protected by the First Amendment right
to free speech?

Q: What issues arise if my FanFic content is inappropriate for minors?

Q: What is the effect of an age verification warning on a copyright claim?



A Brief Introduction To Copyright For Fan Fiction Writers
COPYRIGHT 101
<http://www.whoosh.org/issue25/lee1.html>



Part 1 - Copyright Basics


1.1) What maniacal rules are in effect?

1.2) Just what in Tartarus is a copyright?

1.3) Are my fics/poems/skits/whatever covered?

1.4) How can I copyright my work?

1.5) Do I need to shout from the top of Mt. Olympus in order to provide
proper notice?

1.6) Do I have to register my work with the U.S. Copyright Office? (Oh,
the bureaucrats, the horror!)

1.7) How long does a copyright last?

1.8) Umm... You see, I'm so very deep in this fanfic writer's closet...
What do I do?

Part 2 - The Not-So-Basic Important Stuff

2.1) What do The Powers That Be own?

2.2) Wait a minute! Will I incur Themis' wrath now? Can I disclaim all
my wrong-doings?

2.3) Can I hide under the "Fair Use Doctrine" tunic?

2.4) What kind of punishment would the Furies invoke?

Part 3 - More Important Stuff: What Can I Borrow?


3.1) There's this nifty song I wanna quote... Is it in the "Public
Domain"?

3.2) Can I use something without permission?

Part 4 - Still More Important Stuff: What Do I Have?

4.1) What's "Derivative Work"?

4.2) Just what can a fanfic writer copyright?

4.3) What makes my partner-in-crime my "Co-author"?

4.4) I think a descendant of Salmoneus (or Joxer, or both) just stole
my brilliant idea! What do I do?

Part 5 - Miscellaneous Stuff

5.1) Xenaverse is a humongous place, what if I don't live in the U.S.?

5.2) What are my rights outside the U.S.?

5.3) I run my own web page, can I link...?

Biography



Fan Fiction, Novels, Copyright, And Ethics
By Michela Ecks
Content copyright 2001 held by author
WHOOSH! edition copyright 2001 held by Whoosh!
<http://www.whoosh.org/issue62/ecks2.html>

The Scourge of Fan Fiction (01-02)
The Curse of Derivation (03-06)
Derivation and the Single Author (07-11)
Fan Fiction Based on Novels (12-15)
When Agendas Collide (16-20)
The Fan's Perspective (21-24)
Can a Balance Be Found? (25-26)
Notes
Works Cited
Articles
Biography



Legal Fictions: Copyright, Fan Fiction, and a New Common Law
Rebecca Tushnet
Reprinted with permission from volume 17 of the Loyola of Los Angeles
Entertainment Law Journal, 1997 (17 Loy. L.A. Ent. L.J. 651)
<http://www.tushnet.com/law/fanficarticle.html>



Intellectual property - Fan Fiction and Copyright
<http://members.aol.com/olwynm/fanfic.htm>



Fan Fiction and the Copyright Dilemma (PDF File)
<http://home.earthlink.net/~ushand/copyrightdilemma.pdf>



Top: Arts: Writers Resources: Fiction: Fan Fiction (25)
DMOZ Open Source Directory
<http://www.dmoz.org/Arts/Writers_Resources/Fiction/Fan_Fiction/>


Law and Humanities Blog
A blog about law, literature, and the humanities
May 21, 2007
Copyright Doctrine and Fan Fiction
Posted by Christine Corcos
<http://lawlit.blogspot.com/2007/05/
copyright-doctrine-and-fan-fiction.html>

A shorter URL for the above link:

<http://tinyurl.com/39fspj>



Legal issues with fan fiction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_with_fan_fiction>

Contents

1 United States copyright law
2 Trademark law
3 Arguments for the legality of fan fiction
4 Copyright holders' attitude towards fan fiction
5 Fan fiction outside the United States
6 References
7 See also



Ledwon, Lenora. Fan Fiction, Copyright, and the Scripting of Cultural
Identities: Queering Copyright with Xena and Buffy Paper presented at the
annual meeting of the The Law and Society Association, Renaissance Hotel,
Chicago, Illinois, May 27, 2004. 2006-10-05



Ledwon, L. P. (2004, May) Fan Fiction, Copyright, and the Scripting of
Cultural Identities: Queering Copyright with Xena and Buffy Paper
presented at the annual meeting of the The Law and Society Association,
Renaissance Hotel, Chicago, Illinois. 2006-10-05



Digital Copyright Canada
All Canadian Citizens are "Rights Holders"!
Home blogs Russell McOrmond's blog
CBC Spark: Fan fiction, the "remix culture", and the entirely new
copyright debate
<http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/4417>



The Legality of Fan Fiction on the Net
Posted by Kevin A. Thompson under Musings
<http://www.cyberlawcentral.com/2005/06/23/
the-legality-of-fan-fiction-on-the-net/>

A shorter URL for the above link:

<http://tinyurl.com/2tmn3k>



Plagiarism Today
A Site About Plagiarism, Content Theft
and Copyright Issues Online
Fan Fiction Plagiarism
<http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2006/01/18/fan-fiction-plagiarism/>



Performance, Property, and the Slashing of Gender in Fan Fiction
SONIA KATYAL
Fordham University School of Law
Fordham Law Legal Studies Research Paper No. 103
Journal of Gender, Social Policy, and the Law, Vol. 14, p. 463, 2006
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=869742>



The Fanfiction Glossary
new/updated entries are marked red
italicized terms are defined elsewhere below
<http://www.subreality.com/glossary/terms.htm>




For those just learning about Fan Fiction



Fan fiction
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_fiction>


Fan fiction (also commonly spelled as fanfiction and frequently
abbreviated to fanfic or occasionally just FF or fic) is a broadly-defined
term for fiction about characters or settings written by fans of the
original work, rather than by the original creators. Fan fiction usually
describes works that are uncommissioned and unauthorized by the
owner/creators and publishers of the original and usually (but not always)
works which are not professionally published.

Fan fiction is defined outside of original fiction, which exists within
its own discrete, professionally-published universe, and therefore outside
of canon works within that universe. Most fan fiction writers assume that
their readers have knowledge of the canon universe -- created by a
professional writer -- in which their works are based.

Before about 1965, the term fan fiction was used in science fiction fandom
to designate original, though amateur, works of science fiction published
in science fiction fanzines, as differentiated from fiction that was
professionally published by professional writers, but this usage is now
obsolete. Modern definitions of the term exclude such entirely original
writing from the genre. Today, fan fiction writers use characters and
situations already created by other writers in order to develop their
personal and preferred views of the story. For example, the Harry Potter
books by J.K. Rowling have spawned a lively fan fiction genre, in which
the characters make choices and enjoy an afterlife that Rowling herself
did not create.

Material in which the fan fiction author merely consciously imitates the
style, voice, and/or subject of another author's work is usually called
pastiche and is generally considered a separate genre from standard fan
fiction, though some works may in fact be both a pastiche and a fan
fiction story. Unauthorized films that are derivative works are generally
referred to as fan films, while fan-made comics are usually referred to as
either "fan comics" or (in Japan) doujinshi. These films and comics are
generally considered different from "fan fiction", which is regarded as
literary in nature.

Contents

1 Definitions of "fan fiction"
1.1 Licensed novels
1.2 Unauthorized derivative works
1.3 As an extension of oral literature
1.4 Shared universes
2 History
3 Formats of fan fiction
4 Reviewing and interactivity in the online era
4.1 Ficathon
5 Subgenres
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links


-----------------------------------



Here are a few more URLs that should lead to some densely populated sources
that cover a variety of aspects of fan fiction and copyright.

By the way, if two or more parties disagree as to the direction such a work
should take, can this lead to fan friction?


Google Scholar
<http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=%22fan+fiction%
22+and+copyright&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=ws>

A shorter URL for the above link:

<http://tinyurl.com/2kt493>


Content Sample:

[CITATION] Legal Fictions: Copyright, Fan Fiction, and a New Common Law
R Tushnet - Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Journal, 1997
Cited by 9 - Related Articles - Web Search


[PDF] Whose game is this anyway? Negotiating corporate ownership in a virtual
world - all 4 versions
TL Taylor - Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference Proceedings, 2002 -
digra.org
... However, these kinds of claims against fan fiction may be problematic ...
an interest
in market share, but a general reputational concern, which copyright law does
...
Cited by 33 - Related Articles - View as HTML - Web Search


Copyright and Internet fanzines - all 6 versions
C Oppenheim, M Turner - Aslib Proceedings, 1999 - emeraldinsight.com
... facsimile. Fan-fiction This refers to fan-fiction, often referred to as
fanfic.
These ... the Copyright and Internet fanzines Page 4. Aslib ...
Cited by 4 - Related Articles - Web Search


Learning From the Review Culture of Fan Fiction
J Chatelain - Journal of Digital Information, 2003 - jodi.ecs.soton.ac.uk
... Learning From the Review Culture of Fan Fiction. ... in English, Harry
Potter fandom,
which is comparatively well behaved in the matter of copyright, and perhaps ...
Cited by 2 - Related Articles - Cached - Web Search


Fan Fiction and The Copyright Dilemma
U Renee - 2000 - earthlink.net
... III. Fan Fiction and Copyright Infringement .....4 IV. ...
III. Fan Fiction and Copyright Infringement ...
Cited by 1 - Related Articles - Web Search


Resistance Re-Examined: Gender, Fan Practices, and Science Fiction Television -
all 2 versions
C Scodari - Popular Communication, 2003 - Lawrence Earlbaum
... by negotiating cultural texts through such practices as fan fiction and
interactive ...
POPULAR COMMUNICATION, 1(2), 111130 Copyright 2003, Lawrence Erlbaum ...
Cited by 4 - Related Articles - Web Search


FAN FICTION, FANDOM, AND FANFARE: WHATS ALL THE FUSS? - all 3 versions
M McCardle - 2003 - bu.edu
... 44 The first instance of a recognized clash between fan fiction authors and
copyright
owners occurred in June of 1977 when Paramount, the copyright holder to ...
Cited by 1 - Related Articles - Web Search


The bibliographical structure of fan information - all 6 versions
C Hart, M Schoolbred, D Butcher, D Kane - Collection Building, 1999 - ifla.org
... News Fanzines - articles/news Publishing Information packs Guides to fan
fiction
Role play games ... Alex; Oasis webzines warned of action on Net copyright, in
The ...
Cited by 4 - Related Articles - Cached - Web Search


Much more in this collection of resources but below are more and
different resource places to look.


Google Books
<http://books.google.com/books?tab=sp&sa=N&q=%
22fan+fiction%22+and+copyright&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N>

A shorter URL for the above link:

<A shorter URL for the above link:>


Scirus
<http://www.scirus.com/srsapp/search?q=%
22fan+fiction%22+and+copyright&ds=jnl&ds=nom&g=s&t=all>

A shorter URL for the above link:

<http://tinyurl.com/27lr73>

Northern Light <http://www.nlresearch.com/results.php?searchForm=bresearch.php&
sort=1&periodDate=&textQuery=%22fan+fiction%
22+and+copyright&datasource=NLBRL&x=15&y=8>

A shorter URL for the above link:

<http://tinyurl.com/2ya3h2>


A Link to a Search for Fan Fiction and Copyright on the Web Via LIVE
<http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=%22fan+fiction%
22+and+copyright&go=Search&mkt=en-us&scope=&FORM=LIVSOP>

A shorter URL for the above link:

<http://tinyurl.com/yt3mjp>


Links for additional resources about copyright and plagiarism in general will
be found here at the bottom center of this general source library subject
guide:


<http://guides.temple.edu/content.php?pid=1282>



Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@...
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