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That's alright for mere consumption, but what about derivatives? I mean, take a look at fan-fiction - it's practically a violation of copyright by definition, a

That's alright for mere consumption, but what about derivatives? I mean, take a look at fan-fiction - it's practically a violation of copyright by definition, and yet it provides a template for budding authors so they don't have to invent their own characters and world from scratch to start writing interesting interactions - there are an awful lot of major authors that wouldn't have started writing if it weren't for fanfiction, by their own admission. For example, 50 Shades Of Grey was originally a Twilight fanfic, but it's pretty darn popular as its own unrelated thing now.

benmcnelly 10y ago
The world would have missed out on Gilbert Gottfried reading this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkLqAlIETkA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkLqAlIETkA
gregmac 10y ago
Derivatives are particularly difficult, that's for sure. In the software world we have licenses that explicitly lay this out. The music industry does actually have this sorted out, with ways to license music for covers (mechanical licenses) or remixing -- although the latter is definitely complicated [1] and is similar to fan fiction in that many artists/DJs get started by making remixes. There's an entire wikipedia page on legal issues relating to fan fiction [2]. It's definitely not an obvious thing. Using your example, how do you decide if 50 Shades of Grey is a legitimate new work or a rip-off of the next part of the story Twilight was going to tell? If a similar story was released by the author(s) of Twilight would it be considered a rip-off of 50 Shades of Grey? What if it was revealed to be in the works prior to the release of 50 Shades of Grey? [1] http://djtechtools.com/2012/03/25/legal-concerns-for-digital-djs-should-i-worry-about-copyright/ http://djtechtools.com/2012/03/25/legal-concerns-for-digital... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_with_fan_fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_with_fan_fiction

benmcnelly 10y ago

The world would have missed out on Gilbert Gottfried reading this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkLqAlIETkA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkLqAlIETkA

gregmac 10y ago

Derivatives are particularly difficult, that's for sure. In the software world we have licenses that explicitly lay this out. The music industry does actually have this sorted out, with ways to license music for covers (mechanical licenses) or remixing -- although the latter is definitely complicated [1] and is similar to fan fiction in that many artists/DJs get started by making remixes. There's an entire wikipedia page on legal issues relating to fan fiction [2]. It's definitely not an obvious thing. Using your example, how do you decide if 50 Shades of Grey is a legitimate new work or a rip-off of the next part of the story Twilight was going to tell? If a similar story was released by the author(s) of Twilight would it be considered a rip-off of 50 Shades of Grey? What if it was revealed to be in the works prior to the release of 50 Shades of Grey? [1] http://djtechtools.com/2012/03/25/legal-concerns-for-digital-djs-should-i-worry-about-copyright/ http://djtechtools.com/2012/03/25/legal-concerns-for-digital... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_with_fan_fiction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_with_fan_fiction