To: databank@mindspring.com (Zen)
From: redneck@txdirect.net (Redneck Gaijin)
Subject: Re: Anime, Fanfics, and Diversity
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At 13:51 6/22/97, Luis Majluf wrote:

Actually, I'd disagree with your last point. Since fanfics are free,
they do not pose a threat to the sales of anime videos. A fanfic and a
video are two completely different things- if you feel like reading a
fic you're not going to watch a video, or viceversa. If someone reads a
fic they won't say "Ah, I'm satisfied, I won't watch a video now". They
are mutually exlclusive in that aspect. More importantly, though, is
that these fanfics are great publicity for the companies that produce
the videos- they get people more involved into their products, and
probably have a nice, positive effect on sales. Plus, it's a sign of the
success of their products. My guess is that they are thankful that such
activity exists on the web.

Luis-san... you make very interesting points, but they are not relevant.
Copyright law is a LOT more complicated than that.  The companies and the
people that produce anime and things ARE, as a general rule, glad to see
fan fiction - within limits.  But they CANNOT be "aware" of it on an
official level and not do something about it.  They MUST defend their
copyrights to maintain them.  As long as they can turn a blind eye toward
fanfiction and other related fannish activities, such activities will be
tolerated, and even quietly smiled upon.  But the minute you start poking
the damned things under their noses, then they HAVE to take notice, and
they HAVE to take action - if they do not, then they can LOSE the
copyright.  NO COMPANY is going to just toss away their exclusive claim to
a money making property.

There is a point which I think would be worthwhile to raise here.

Here in America, copyright violation is judged solely on financial injury-

that is, the plaintiff must make the case that the defendant's misuse of the
plaintiff's creation caused financial loss in some fashion. These days,
that's fairly easy to prove.

However, in the UK and other European nations, I have been informed that

there is a different policy. Violation of copyright is regarded as a moral
crime as well as financial. Even if you don't steal money from the creator
by selling your version of his creation or damaging his creation's image,
the simple -act- of stealing his creation is grounds for suit.

This is something which I feel we as fanfic writers ought not to forget.

Whether or not we get sued for writing our works, we should keep in mind
that these characters, universes, etc. belong to someone else. At the least,
we owe the people who created these works which we love some measure of
respect. 

       Redneck

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