On Sat, 13 Feb 1999 17:51:16   bert.miller wrote:

Me, I'm tempted to do a Ranma/Darkover story

Ranma/Darkover?  Millenia different in time, plus space, tone, etc, etc?  I'm
not sure why you're even tempted...

But, if you just want a cameo appearance, there are alternatives.  You can't be
(successfully) sued for copyright violation or trademark violation with even a
thin disguise on your setting and characters, thin enough so that most readers
will know who and what you're talking about.  For instance, if you invented a
planet called "Lightover" or "Darkunder", with a medieval society ruled by a
caste of telepaths, and avoid direct copying of any of MZB's characters' names
or place names, you couldn't be sued.  The standard of proof for copyright
infringement cases is extremely high.

You also can't be sued for "modest quotations for review purposes", another out
for short crossovers.

Neither of these would work particularly well for long crossovers, the former
for aesthetic reasons rather than legal (presumably you want to use the real
names if you're doing that amount of work).

Perhaps one good reason why some authors do not allow
fanfics is avoid plaigarism litigation in future.

AFAIK, Lois McMaster Bujold avoids any fanfic she comes
across and David Weber prefers that none be posted on
the newsgroup about him since he sometimes lurks there.

The reason for this is because if somebody posts a
fanfic where the author can look at it and the author
uses characters of situations very similar to the
fanfic, they might open to being sued for plaigiarism
and asked for plenty of moolah.



---
Patrick Vera
vorkosigan@my-dejanews.com
kasuga@mnl.sequel.net
iiradned@hotmail.com
Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet
Daring rescues our specialty.



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