I am really confused.
2007-07-12 10:06:05 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
As far as I know, in most cases fan fiction is considered to be the intellectual property of the person who wrote the original story/universe/whatever. The person who wrote the fanfic doesn't get any privileges over what they wrote unless they and whoever owns the original come to an agreement to that effect.
That said, I think most companies don't really care how much fan fiction you write, so long as you aren't making money off it.
2007-07-12 10:10:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
The 'legal status' depends on EXACTLY 'who or what' you are a fan of, and the 'type' of fiction, as well as how it is 'published and distributed' after it's written. Generally, 'fan-fiction' is a 'made up story' that is 'based on' a show or characters in that show ...it can be a 'short story', a 'novella', a novel, or a 'screen-play,' I can not be 'printed by a publisher for sale at a profit' although it may have a 'nominal charge' to cover the paper and 'printing' costs. If you 'write' a piece of 'fan-fiction' and 'print it out' using your HOME computer's printer, and 'bind it' yourself (which is actually quite easy, although it's EXPENSIVE to do) then you may 'distribute' your writing at places where other fans 'congregate' ... movies, conventions, meetings. You must ALWAYS ask for a 'donation' and not a 'payment' and you MUST keep 'good copies' of the source (at a convention, you may state the place with the 'address' and put 'convention attendee' and not the person's real name, so don't worry about that) of ALL of that 'donation income' (yes, you will have to pay taxes on it ...'income' is 'income' and there are LAWS about declaring income that cover 'fan-fiction' donations.
Actually, it can be extremely 'fun' to write 'fan-fiction' and if it's REALLY GOOD you could get a 'real job' either with the 'producers' of that show, or ones who want to start a 'similar' show but who 'enjoyed' what you wrote. So go ahead and 'write it out' and print some 'copies' and take them with you when you go to a movie or convention and hand them out (do not try to do this INSIDE the 'movie theater grounds' though ... THAT could get you arrested or thrown out FOREVER from that theater) ... and GOOD LUCK.
2007-07-12 10:21:29 · answer #2 · answered by Kris L 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can't make money off fan-fiction of a copyrighted story or character or place at ALL for your story to be legal.
There are a lot of gray areas though. Very good fan fiction can bring people to a site, and if that site makes money from selling advertisements that pay by the number of hits the site gets... then that site is essentially making money from using copyrighted characters that do not belong to them.
Stories like Peter Pan are no longer copyrighted, because the author has been dead for over 70 years. That is why "fan fiction" type stories like Hook and Peter and the Starcatchers can be legally produced. Same with The Wizard of Oz's copyright expiring, and the book Wicked being legal, taking place in the land of Oz, with Oz characters.
2007-07-12 10:10:45 · answer #3 · answered by HP Wombat 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Ive seen some things similar like 'Guide to monsters in Harry Potter' paraphrased abit, in the beginning of the book it just said that it had no relation to the series(other then the title), it was not approved by the original author, and it is the sole product of the author(who's doing the fan fiction), there was also like published by X, not by J.K Rowling on the cover... So it seems okay if the publisher just clarifies that the original author had nothing to do with it:)
2016-05-20 23:50:47 · answer #4 · answered by keisha 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, it's legal because none of the writers are making profit off of another's work, and most put a disclaimer at the top, anyway.
Certain authors have made it publicly known that they do not want certai fanfiction sites to host works based on their own writing. (Example: fanfiction based on any works by Anne Rice, posted on Fanfiction.net.) In that case, it would be illegal to host fanfiction based on that particular series by that particular author on that particular site.
2007-07-12 10:09:25 · answer #5 · answered by Riven Liether 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Your question confused me. I'm not sure what you mean by legal status. You're supposed to be disclaimers at the beginning saying that you don't own any of the characters, unlesss you make your own, and all that stuff. That's what fanfiction.net makes you do anyway.
2007-07-12 10:10:06 · answer #6 · answered by bleddingblakrose 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
AS far as I am concerned, fanfiction may be legal because you are not duplicating the story, aka plagiarizing, however in my opinion it is unethical. You didn't create the characters - someone else did. You also didn't create the locales etc - again someone else did. Also I have read many fanfictions that put characters from stories like Harry Potter into R and even X rated situations. As an author, I cannot condone that. I believe that if young people want to write stories, they should write their own - not someone else's. Pax - C
2007-07-12 10:21:33 · answer #7 · answered by Persiphone_Hellecat 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋
The essential to unlock the energy to make money from house is obtaining the correct on-line interface for writers
2016-06-05 20:45:37 · answer #8 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
According to current United States copyright, copyright owners have the right to control or restrict the publishing of "derivative works" based on their material, though they do not receive ownership of those works.
2007-07-12 10:09:54 · answer #9 · answered by Darrell D 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
On Fanfiction.com there is a list of authors who don't mind there books having fanfictions, as long as you don't sell them for money.
2007-07-12 10:26:09 · answer #10 · answered by Soccerdanger 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋