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Copyright covers derivative works. There was an interesting weird area of copyright law that comes up every few years; early Sherlock Holmes are in the public
by saalweachter 3y ago
Copyright covers derivative works.
There was an interesting weird area of copyright law that comes up every few years; early Sherlock Holmes are in the public domain, but not the final Sherlock Holmes stories [but maybe now? It's been a few years].
So it was legal to create a derivative work based on the early stories, like a movie or your own sequels or whatever, but if you referenced the final canon works, the estate would have you.
- ekianjo 3y ago> Copyright covers derivative works This is so dumb. If early math has been copyrighted all math would be 1000 late by now
- EnigmaFlare 3y agoCopyright only protects "unnecessary", i.e. creative work. If there's only one way to do something (eg. maths), it can't be protected by copyright. If copyright is an obstacle to somebody creating something, they always have the freedom to create something different and just as good instead.
- deafpolygon 3y agoSimilarly to how recipes can't be copyrighted, but the text prefacing it can be.
- throwaway81523 3y agoThe infringement can go in both directions though. The fanfic obviously infringes Tolkien but it's not so obvious that Amazon doesn't infringe the fanfic. That was a common scenario with unsolicited scripts for TV shows. Some Star Trek viewer writes a script where the Enterprise is turned into a pumpkin, sends it to Paramount for consideration, Paramount says no thanks. Next thing you know there is a Star Trek episode with the Enterprise being turned into a pumpkin and oops, the amateur scriptwriter sues. The script is a work derived from ST, but the episode with the pumpkin is potentially derived from the slushpile script. So now there is a fight about whether Paramount developed the idea independently. For that reason studios are very careful about exactly how and when they will accept script submissions from outside their usual stable of writers.
- kstrauser 3y agoWhat's a derivative work, exactly? To my layman thinking, I imagine it to be a modification of an existing work, like a translation, or a condensed version, or an "editor's cut", etc. I wouldn't think my from-scratch new work set in another work's universe would could as a derivative work. By analogy, a fork of a software project is a derivative work, but making a work-alike would not be. Am I misunderstanding? (I could look this up. It's more fun to discuss it, and other people might find it interesting.)
- saalweachter 3y agoAFAIK, in-the-same-universe is covered; Enola Holmes would be an example of a derivative work. There's a carve out for parody, which usually involves filing off the serial numbers as well as making fun of the original work. But it's not my area of expertise.