[FFML] Acceptable copyright violations (Was Re: Fic archiving and FF.net)

[Craig]

On Thu, 7 May 2009, Shadow Wolf <shadowolf3400 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Unfortunately, Henry, the courts (at least in the US) long ago decided
> that "characters" could be copyrighted and that fiction or other
> depictions of someone else's characters constitutes a "derivative
> work". You don't have to use the words or artwork of the original
> author to violate their copyright.

Unfortunately?  Hmm; there I must disagree.  Protection of an author's 
creative endeavours and respect for their wishes must, in any final 
analysis, be paramount.  We need to remember that fanfic _isn't_ (and IMO 
should _never_ be) a *right*; it should always be considered a 
*privilege*, subject to the continuing good will and acceptance of the 
original creator.  If somebody doesn't want tampered with something 
they've spent perhaps many years creating, then IMO certainly they should 
have the right to ask that nobody else build in their universe, and do 
whatever is necessary to stop those who persist publicly without 
permission.  As an example, I've been working for many years on two 
discrete original fantasy epics.  Assuming both are published at some 
point (one is at least nominally near to completion), I have very 
divergent opinions with regard to fanfic set in those universes.  For the 
second, I'd be perfectly happy; for the first, *definitely* not, under 
_any_ circumstances, without my expressed permission/input.

Of course some authors don't care at all, and have said that they are more 
than happy for anybody to do almost as they wish, so long as they 
acknowledge the original creator's ownership and don't profit from what 
they write.  Others (e.g. Tolkien, Feist) expressed a definite desire that 
nobody else play around with/in their universe.  IMO any such wishes 
should be respected as much as is possible once made clear, disappointing 
though sometimes it can be.

C