I removed and blocked this address.  Personally, I have NO
interest in releasing my work, because of copyright bullshit.

Could you expand on this a little?  I did some research on the fanzine,
and all indications are that it's legitimate.  I was sorta thinking of
maybe sending a fanfic to them.  Is there a reason I shouldn't?

--
-Richard

sterman@sprynet.com
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/sterman

No, there is no particular reason that you should not send them a fanfic.
Fanzines that publish fanfics are ALL technically in violation of copyright
law.  And here is where it can get tricky.  For the most part, the
corporate forces behind the creations (like Paramount ofr Star Trek, and
Kitty Animation et al for Ranma) tend to look the other way when fanzines
are produced - as long as the producers are not trying to make a profit off
of them.

After all, they benefit because fan enthusiasm will boost their sales and
make their products more marketable.

Now what you DON'T want to do is write Kitty, or Shogakukan, or Takahashi
and ask to use their characters.  In order to protect their copyrights,
they will have to tell you "no", and if you do it THEN, they will *have* to
come after you, or lose the copyright.  If a copyright is not defended,
then it will be forfeit, and they can ill afford that.

Fanzines (Doujinshi in Japan) are an old tradition that sort of slips in
under the carpet.  The powers that be tend to ignore it, and they preserve
their copyrights by pretending not to see it.  The worst thing one could do
would be call it to their attention.

By the same token - any published work is assumed to be covered by
copyright.  Precisely who holds this copyright depends on a number of
things.  In general, it is assumed to be held jointly by author and
publisher.

If the piece is a "Work For Hire" - that is, commissioned by the publisher,
or some such entity, for a specific purpose, with definite and stipulated
compensation, (payment) - then the copyright belongs to the person/entity
that contracted for the work - eg, the publisher.  The authore relinquishes
all rights.

Most fanzines however, stipulate that the copyright for a story (artwork,
poem, etc.) remains the sole property of the author that wrote it.  For
example, if I wrote a fic and submitted it to a 'zine, then I would retain
the copyright - all I have granted the publisher is the right to print the
story in the 'zine.  I can then either grant or withhold reprint rights -
if I withhold them, then the publisher has to again secure my permission to
include my work in the 'zine.

Both fanfics and fanzines usually include some form of disclaimer - a
statement to the effect that the characters being used are NOT the property
of the author, and that they are being used without permission.  While this
does NOT mean that the owners of the characters cannot stop you from
releasing your work, It DOES limit the damages that they can claim you
did...  That is they can not claim that you fraudulently appropriated their
characters for your own use - This can make a big difference, because it
shifts the burden of proof to the copyright holder.  Instead of your having
to prove that you did NOT steal their characters, they have to prove that
you DID.  The distinction is subtle, but extremely significant.

Disclaimers also tend to (not absolutely, but generally) limit any damages
for which you can be held liable to *actual* damages (that is provable loss
of revenues) rather than *punitive* damages (which can be whatever the
courts decide they should be... ghoddess help you if the judge is in a bad
mood.)

As to White Wolf's lack of interest in submitting a fic to the 'zine, that
is easily understandable.

First - posting to the net involves no exchange of moneys - when there is
NO money changing hands over the distribution of a story, then it is just
about impossible for any copyright holder to prove fraudulent intent.

Second - No 'zines are free - (ther might be one or two, but I doubt it...)
The people who publish them are seldom out to make a profit, but they are
certainly going to try to recoup their expenses - this pushes hard at the
gray borders of legality because there is an exchange of specie, and it is
conceivable that one could prove intent to make a profit.  Whether or not a
profit is made is irrelevant, intent is all that matters.

Third - If the publisher of the 'zine gets busted, then the authors who
contributed to the 'zine can get into trouble too - though there was
certainly no intent to profit on their part, they would still be held
liable for allowing their derivative works to be used for profit (by the
'zine publisher).

In a related matter, White Wolf also has the right idea:

A message or so back, in answering a question about the remailer, White
Wolf said that 'fics posted to the list are NOT automatically posted to the
remailer - for reasons of copyright.  The copyright that Wolf is protecting
here is the copyright of the person WHO WROTE the STORY.

By sending a fic to the ML, a fanfic author is in effect, self publishing.
That someone else provides the distribution mechanism (in this case the FF
ML) is irrelevant - the author is doing the distributing.

This method does not grant any permissions, expressed or implied, to the
maintainer of the list to further distribute the story.  If he were to do
so, that would be like a magazine publishing a story without the permission
of the author.  Never mind that the author cannot legally charge for the
story since that would put himself in dutch, WW cannot "publish" a story
without consent of the author.  In the legal sense, publish does NOT refer
to paper, but any means of distribution, wither print or electronic, or in
any form whatsoever, which is made available to the "consumer" - again,
money is immaterial.

However, if you post your story to the REMAILER itself, as WW has set it
up, that posting DOES express permission for WW to put the story in the
archive - that is clearly the SOLE purpose of posting to the remailer.
Permission is implicit, and WW can "publish" the fic.

Zoner's approach with RAAC is similar, but instead of maintaining separate
addresses, Zoner archives everything that comes across the newsgroup.  If
you read the RAAC FAQ, you will find the warning in bold type that
EVERYTHING that is posted to RAAC is made available in the archive, and
that if you do NOT want this to happen with your 'fic, do NOT post it to
RAAC.  If you DO post it to RAAC, then you are granting your permission for
Zoner to make it available in the archive.

The advantage to Zoner's system is that you can post it and forget it, and
anyone who wants it can look it up at FTP.STD.COM.

The advantage to WW's system is that you can test the waters, so to speak,
before making a piece generally available... If you don't like the way your
piece was received, you simply do NOT post it to the remailer, and then you
don't have to worry about it, beyond the members of the ML at the time you
posted it.  It gives you a chance to decide whether you really want it
archived or not, and gives you a better chance to polish it and take
advantage of the feedback before you DO archive it.


Cripes.  Sorry about this.  I hadn't intended to ramble so.  I hope that I
haven't bored you too much, or scared you.  Bottom line is still the same -
submit if you want to - if you think the 'zine is legit.  But if they try
to pay you for the story, *run*.

<<rant limiter overload>>

Zen-

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[[                  James Bateman (Otaku@nashville.com)                  ]]
[[ -The experiment has begun - A million monkeys at a million keyboards- ]]
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