. Fans have many different views on the legalities of fan works, from the pure question of whether these works are transformative, to differences in how fans feel fan works should be disseminated. Edit: Fanfiction is defined by the use of characters and expression from an original creative work and the creation of derivative works, all of which is illegal under current copyright law (McCardle, 2003). Join our message boards and share your experiences and advice with other young people who might have similar worries to you. To the extent that fanfiction uses source-identifying characters, settings and such, the marks are often well known are identical to the original, and are used in similar types of goods (i.e., written fiction). Find Out All The Answers Here, Is fanfiction Illegal? [48][49] However, lawyers on behalf of Ms. Rowling specifically noted that she has "no complaint about innocent fan fiction written by genuine Harry Potter fans"[49] and she "is happy for spin-offs to be published online as long as the publications are not sold and it is made clear she was not involved in the stories", under the condition that they do not contain pornography or racism. So it's important to think about whether it's affecting other things in your life. Not only did these critics never try to . Sometimes, fans are also referred to as an, Fans may decide to convey their passion in many diverse. These rights include the right to distribution and adaptation of the work, right to copying. Im like, go write your own story. 1551 (2005). . [34] In contrast, in Parks v. LaFace, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that the Outkast song "Rosa Parks" violated the civil rights icon's right of publicity because it was not sufficiently transformative. Since the fanfic community is mostly comprised of women (reading and writing), it is often pushed aside as "stupid" or "childish" because of good old sexism which invalidates every female-dominated interest. Speaking to copyright, yes, it is illegal, unless it has been altered so much it had been changed into a new work, like 50 Shades. [6] If proven, possible infringement remedies include an order to cease sharing and/or to destroy the work (known as an injunction), or monetary damages. Click here to join. Credit: The Organization of Transformative Works. [30] Despite the ruling in White, courts have shown hesitation in other suits to shut down even commercial artistic pursuits based on the right of publicity. I dont know. Fanfiction, or fiction written by fans of existing fictional works, has been around for a long time. Whether fanfiction is illegal or not shouldnt be so much of a controversy. For example, in South Africa, a T-shirt company was able to sell T-shirts parodying Black Label beer.[27]. An additional defense to trademark infringement or dilution relies on the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech. Versions of this incident are credited by many to have led to a "zero tolerance" policy on the part of a number of other professional authors, including Andre Norton, and David Weber. How did Hardin betray Tessa? Some companies like CBS[65] and Lucasfilm Ltd.,[66] which had been historically hostile to fan fiction, changed parts of their model in order to be more fan friendly.
