3 ms·

Why can't you buy the idea from whatever forum poster?

aleph_minus_one 1y ago
I get aredox' point that copyright at least makes some things more complicated. See for example the drama around Darkover fanfiction ([1], [2]): Quote from [1]: "For many years, Bradley actively encouraged Darkover fan fiction. She encouraged submissions from unpublished authors and reprinted some of it in commercial Darkover anthologies. This ended after a dispute with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had similarities to one of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel remained unpublished and Bradley demanded the cessation of all Darkover fan fiction." --- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marion_Zimmer_Bradley&oldid=1296724152#Encouraging_fan_interaction https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marion_Zimmer_Bra... [2] https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/236/191 https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/articl...
aredox 1y ago
Because you have to find and pay everyone who had the same idea. The alternatve is to do "cleanroom writing": you don't interact, therefore if you write something similar, you can argue you independently invented it. I had the same problem in a scientific research lab where collaboration with another lab runs the risk of not being able to patent an idea, because if the other team had the same idea or anything close enough to it, we couldn't claim to be the inventors.
- staticman2 1y ago
  It's not that you have to pay everyone with the same idea, it's that it opens you up to claims you copied fanfiction writers you never copied. If I somehow recreated Lord of the Rings from scratch, without having known about Lord of the Rings, it wouldn't be copyright infringement because I never copied Lord of the Rings. The issue is nobody would ever believe me when I said I coincidentally recreated Lord of the Rings from scratch. The court would conclude I copied Tolkien's books without permission. If you admit to reading fanfiction, it reduces your credibility when you claim you independently came up with the same ideas as fanfiction authors. This increases your litigation risk, but there's no black or white rule that you need to pay every fanfiction author or anything like that.
  - thaumasiotes 1y ago
    > If I somehow recreated Lord of the Rings from scratch, without having known about Lord of the Rings, it wouldn't be copyright infringement because I never copied Lord of the Rings. > The issue is nobody would ever believe me when I said I coincidentally recreated Lord of the Rings from scratch. What do you mean? They believed Terry Goodkind; why not you?

I get aredox' point that copyright at least makes some things more complicated. See for example the drama around Darkover fanfiction ([1], [2]): Quote from [1]: "For many years, Bradley actively encouraged Darkover fan fiction. She encouraged submissions from unpublished authors and reprinted some of it in commercial Darkover anthologies. This ended after a dispute with a fan over an unpublished Darkover novel of Bradley's that had similarities to one of the fan's stories. As a result, the novel remained unpublished and Bradley demanded the cessation of all Darkover fan fiction." --- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marion_Zimmer_Bradley&oldid=1296724152#Encouraging_fan_interaction https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marion_Zimmer_Bra... [2] https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/article/view/236/191 https://journal.transformativeworks.org/index.php/twc/articl...

aredox 1y ago

Because you have to find and pay everyone who had the same idea. The alternatve is to do "cleanroom writing": you don't interact, therefore if you write something similar, you can argue you independently invented it. I had the same problem in a scientific research lab where collaboration with another lab runs the risk of not being able to patent an idea, because if the other team had the same idea or anything close enough to it, we couldn't claim to be the inventors.

staticman2 1y ago
It's not that you have to pay everyone with the same idea, it's that it opens you up to claims you copied fanfiction writers you never copied. If I somehow recreated Lord of the Rings from scratch, without having known about Lord of the Rings, it wouldn't be copyright infringement because I never copied Lord of the Rings. The issue is nobody would ever believe me when I said I coincidentally recreated Lord of the Rings from scratch. The court would conclude I copied Tolkien's books without permission. If you admit to reading fanfiction, it reduces your credibility when you claim you independently came up with the same ideas as fanfiction authors. This increases your litigation risk, but there's no black or white rule that you need to pay every fanfiction author or anything like that.
- thaumasiotes 1y ago
  > If I somehow recreated Lord of the Rings from scratch, without having known about Lord of the Rings, it wouldn't be copyright infringement because I never copied Lord of the Rings. > The issue is nobody would ever believe me when I said I coincidentally recreated Lord of the Rings from scratch. What do you mean? They believed Terry Goodkind; why not you?