On Sun, 11 Aug 1996 01:06:26 -0600 James Bateman said:
: That said, Fanfics ARE technically illegal. (Zen's parents were both
: attorneys) However, Zen has YET to hear of anyone getting too uptight about
: them. After all, what studio/publisher/author et al is gonna turn down
: that much free promotion and consumer enthusiam? GO for it. As long as
: you don't make a profit off of fanfics, they would have a hard time trying
: to prosecute anyway.
*FINALLY* someone gets it right.
As I've said a hundred time before, the fact that fanfic writers
are not prosecuted, doesn't mean that it's *legal* - it just means
that it isn't prosecuted!
The original creators *tolerate* (perhaps even cherish) these fan
works, because they would have to be cruel, heartless bastards,
not to. The publishers don't sue you, because you are not hurting
their profits *and* have no money they could squeeze outta you.
There's something that Terry Pratchett (author of the Discworld
fantasy novels) said about fanfics, that sums it up quite neatly:
"There is no question that using characters, backgrounds, plot threads,
etc, etc of an author in copyright *can* get you into serious legal
trouble -- there have been cases over this recently in the States. Try
publishing a James Bond novel without consulting the Fleming estate and
see what happens. It's amazing that people don't realise this. Publishers
are used to getting stories with a covering note saying 'Here's a story
I've set in Harry Spiven's 'World of Hurts' universe...' and the
publishers say 'Did you get his permission?' and the writer says 'I don't
have to do that, do I?' and the publishers go white and say 'Does the
Pope shit in the woods?'
That's the REAL world. Now let's talk about FANDOM.
The law isn't any different. But there's people out there writing HHGTTG
stuff, Red Dwarf stuff, Star Trek stuff and Discworld stuff for the
amusement of their friends. Authors react on an individual basis. Some
hate it and try to stop it. Anne McCaffrey -- I think, although I'm open
to correction here -- doesn't mind so long as her main characters are not
used. Douglas Adams seems to have tolerated/given permission for a welter
of Hitchhikers stuff in the ZZ9 fanzine.
It seems to me that if something is being done on an amateur basis by a
fan for fans, and is clearly their own work, and is done out of a shared
regard for the basic subject matter, then it would be kind of chilly for
an author to run around hammering people. It's fandom, for god's sake. I
don't give anyone *permission*, I just smile and think what the hell.
There's a danger, of course, that some dumb bugger out there will
interpret this as an indication that Discworld is now in the public
domain or open to franchising. It is neither. If anyone tries a
commercial rip-off -- not a parody, not fanac, but a cynical attempt to
cash in on my Discworld -- then the sewage farm will hit the three
megawatt aerogenerator."
I'm sure that Takahashi-san and all other manga creators would say
pretty much the same, if asked.
When I said that fanfics are illegal, even if disclaimed, I did
not mean that anyone should stop writing them, but just that they
should be *aware* of the situation - i.e. that they are able to
write because of the kind tolerance of the copyright holders, and
not because they have any right to do so.
Sebastian (*I'm* not stopping, either.)