Hacker Chronicles 2/HACKER2.BIN/447.SF018090.TXT

Text File | 1993-02-23 | 18KB | 339 lines

SF-LOVERS Digest            Tuesday, 9 Feb 1993        Volume 18 : Issue 90

Today's Topics:

     Miscellaneous - Fan Fiction and Copyright Infringements (5 msgs)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 18 Jan 93 07:10:17 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Cassandra T. Kamuchey)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Fan Fiction--Copyright Infringement? (LONG)

                        EXTREMELY LONG POST ALERT!

   [As many of you are certainly aware, the area of fan fiction (or fanfic)
has always been legally questionable in the copyright realm.  Most of us,
at one point in our lives, have written terrible short stories involving
Capt. Kirk or our favorite novel hero (or heroine).  In fact, Star Trek
creator Gene Roddenberry often credited fanfic writers with sustaining the
popularity of the series during the ten-year hiatus of the 1970s. Today,
Usenet continues to assist fanfic writers in sharing and disseminating
their work.

   Recently, Mercedes Lackey, along with other science fiction authors,
took steps to protect her copyright interests by focusing on fan generated
fiction. The following was published in Lackey's official fanzine, "Queen's
Own" ("QO"), written by Lackey and her husband and has been reprinted with
the author's permission. I have copied the text as exactly as possible,
including the capitalizations that appear; I am, however, not professing to
be a perfect (or even adequate) typist.  Also, I have omitted some of the
more repetitive text as it is over two pages long (as I warned you, this is
a long post).

   I have posted this because I would like to hear the general consensus on
fanfic/licensing rights, etc.]

   Mercedes Lackey writes:

   "First of all, you may not be aware of it, but I am rare in permitting
people to write fanfic based on my work.  Many authors and agents feel it
confuses copyrights enough that they do not permit it at all. [&]...

   "Having established that I am a Good Guy for letting you play in my
sandbox, following the footsteps of my mentor Marion Zimmer Bradley, let me
continue.  Some folks have been horribly incensed because I asked,
politely, that you not post Valdemar fanfic over in Prodigy, because that
service lists itself as a PUBLISHING SERVICE and not an information
service, and it is a FOR PROFIT entity.  This was to protect YOU.  If my
agent or publisher decided that this fanfic was in violation of my
copyrights, they could very easily sue YOU, your parents if you are a
minor, your school if you were using a school machine ... at the very least
you would be required, after paying several thousand dollars in legal
costs, to pay several more thousand dollars in apology-ads in major
booksellers publications, just like that fanzine publisher.  I doubt that
many of you have that kind of money to throw away; I certainly don't.  And
I'm afraid that there would be nothing I could do to call off my agent; in
areas where my rights---and HIS future income---are concerned, HE has every
right to vigorously protect those rights.  Be warned, this Has already
happened TO ONE FAN WRITER AND PUBLISHER.

   "It becomes more confused because Prodigy is an electronic service and
this laps over into the area of "electronic rights" about which there is a
great deal of confusion.  Because of the confusion, my agent prefers to err
in the direction of being conservative and protectionist.  This also goes
for "MUCKS" or "MUSH"s.  He is flatly NOT PERMITTING any electronic
role-playing of any kind, whether it is on a not-for-profit service or for-
profit service.  So there it is--NO VALDEMAR MUCKS ... If he finds out, and
he will eventually, you will get first a "cease and desist" letter from the
agency's legal department--and so will the net you are on.  The Sysops will
not be happy with you about this.  If you continue, you will probably be
slapped with a lawsuit.  If you are a minor, you will probably see your
college fund go down the drain.  If you are not, paying the out-of-court
legal costs alone will set you back several thousand dollars.  This is
something I have no power over; we are not only talking about MY income, we
are talking about my AGENT's income, and he is not going to tolerate anyone
cutting into it.  With the advent of Electronic Arts books, we now have a
real possibility of commercial computer games ... My agent cannot afford to
let one person get in the way of that.

   "To add to the confusion, the "Bookman" is looking more and more likely
all the time ... Now here is where it cuts REAL near the bone for me.  If
one of you, in all innocence, messed up my electronic rights, I could
completely be shut out of the books-on-disc market for all current series.
And, ten, twenty, or thirty years down the road, when all books are coming
out on disc, you will have not only ruined my income, you will have
prevented others from experiencing the same pleasure you had in discovering
my work.  Now, I can write anything; I could turn around and write romances
if I had to.  But it would be a lot of hardship on me--and it would mean NO
MORE VALDEMAR BOOKS. Ever. [&]...

   "So I am going to require a release from those of you who wish to
participate in the electronic fiction CATs, and I am not sure yet what to
do about paper fanfic. [QO reported later that: "The decision has been made
that you MUST sign a release form for any work created in Misty's worlds
that you intend to share with others ... You need a release form for EVERY
story set in Misty's universe that you write..."]. [&]....

   "I don't have to let you in my world.  I could be like Yarbro, and
forbid it entirely.  I don't want to deprive you of the kind of pleasure I
got from writing Darkover and other fanfic.  I like having you in my
sandbox.  All I am asking for is a little courtesy and consideration.

   This piece may be downloaded <or photocopied> and posted to any other
systems you choose, with my permission." --Mercedes Lackey.

   [Here are key excerpts from the release which Lackey is asking all
fanfic writers to sign and send to her whenever they compose fiction,
poetry etc. set in her universe].

   "5.  I [fanfic writer] acknowledge that you [Lackey] may use, without
any obligation to me and without any payment to me, any of said material
which is not protectable as literary property, or which is in the public
domain...[ as unprotected material]...I also acknowledge that I have no
claim on or interest in any copyrighted material of yours upon which I have
based my work.

   "6.  If the material submitted by me pursuant to this release is not
unprotected material and if it was neither created by you nor obtained from
an independent source, and if you personally accept it for publication in
an anthology at some later date, you will ... pay or cause to be paid to me
a sum that is not less than a pro rata share (based on the comparative
length of the material to the rest of the volume) of 50% of any work or
royalties received from the publisher for said work for said specific
anthology, except in the case of nonprofessional publication.  In return
... I agree to assign all rights, including such copyright interests as I
may have in the said work, to you..."

------------------------------

Date: 18 Jan 93 17:10:05 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Wilson Heydt)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Fan Fiction--Copyright Infringement? (LONG)

[e-mail] (Cassandra T. Kamuchey) writes:
>[As many of you are certainly aware, the area of fan fiction (or fanfic)
>has always been legally questionable in the copyright realm.

Without getting too far into this, much of the fanfic *published* isn't
questionable at all: it's clearly in violation of copyright from the
beginning.

Having said that, let me note that if an author wants to let fen play,
that's the author's privilege but, anyone overstepping the bounds of what
the author will permit had better have deep pockets or a fast apology (and
preferably, both).

Since the matter of Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's problem has come up in your
missive (and I'm reasonably reliably informed that *that* still isn't
completely settled), I am reminded of the signs I see about the office from
time to time:

   What part of "NO" don't you understand?

If, on request for permission, an author says 'no', then it means no.

On one issue presented, I think Lackey is on shaky ground.  Since her agent
is (to a degree) *her* creature, she has leverage, influence and some
control of what actions the *agent* takes in copyright cases.  She can,
after all, *fire* the agent (cutting off any income for future and possibly
present) work altogether.  This *should* have a powerful sobering effect on
any agent with a successful client and an eye for future income.

What is developing is a closing of a market.  I think the tradition in SF
and fantasy was one of each author making a name for herself with her own
'universes'.  Within the last 20 years, as publishing houses consolidated
and markets for new, untried writers closed off or narrowed, established
authors opened out their creations to give newer writers a stable framework
to develop their own skills - witness Lackey citing the chance Bradley gave
her.  Due to abuse of process and lack of knowledge of 'the rules of the
game', I think this trend will decline.  Fewer and fewer authors will be
willing to take the exposure necessary to open their universes to new
writers simply *because* some damn fool will take that to be carte blanche
to write whatever they want and publish it anywhere they can get page
space.  I think we will see conditions much more like those in the movie
and TV industry, where unsolicited manuscripts are automatically returned,
unopened, for fear of future suits over theft of intellectual property.  I
also think it's a great pity that the few damn fools will have spoiled the
chances of so many others who don't share that foolishness....

Hal Heydt
Analyst, Pacific*Bell
510-823-5447
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 18 Jan 93 18:59:25 GMT
From: [e-mail] (PC Jorgensen)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Fan Fiction--Copyright Infringement? (LONG)

[e-mail] (Cassandra T. Kamuchey) wrote:
> Lackey's official fanzine,
> "Queen's Own" ("QO"), written by Lackey and her husband

Wow! An _official_ fanzine... And all mine have been _un_official....  ;->

But seriously, I find the so-called fan fiction of media fans appalling.
Which is surprising, considering the quality of some _official_ media sf
writing...

Can't see the point of agents and publishers going after them with
shotguns, though...

But seriously, I'd like to recommend the kind of fan fiction we fannish fen
[or real fans, as the less tolerant of us say - meaning people who enjoy
fandom and sf in general, and _might_ enjoy a Star Wars movie, Trek show on
TV and sundry other forms of entertainment, but do _not_ become cultist
because of it... :-) ] prefer, stories, nearly always humorous (parodies,
for example - lucky us that parody is an accepted and lawyer-proof art
form!), about fans and fandom, like "The Catcher of the Rye" by Carl
Brandom (shared pseudonym), which is funny, makes several points about
fans, and is less obnoxious [:-)] than the original by Salinger...


PC Jorgensen
Institute of East European and Oriental Studies
University of Oslo
Norway

------------------------------

Date: 18 Jan 93 20:30:51 GMT
From: [e-mail] (Wilson Heydt)
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Fan Fiction--Copyright Infringement? (LONG)

[e-mail] (PC Jorgensen) writes:
>[e-mail] (Cassandra T. >Kamuchey) wrote:
>But seriously, I find the so-called fan fiction of media fans appalling.
>Which is surprising, considering the quality of some _official_ media sf
>writing...
>
>Can't see the point of agents and publishers going after them with
>shotguns, though...

That's probably because your country isn't overrun by laywers, each of whom
is trying to make a living and the only way to do that is (by and large) by
making threats of legal action, which (in turn) requires all agreements to
be lawyer-proof (which requires lawyers to write...), which requires clever
(or more...) lawyers to break, which...

I think you get the idea.

Mix into that the fuzziness inherent in most folks conception of just what
copyright, trademark, and trade secret protect (and how they do do) and
you'll have the legal beagles rubbing their hands in glee.

The result is that it only takes one Damn Fool doing stupid things and
threatening to sue if the Big Name Author doesn't see it *their* way to
make *all* known authors run for the hills.  Why should the other authors
borrow trouble by giving an inch to fan writers?  It winds up costing the
author more than it's worth.

The most notable *recent* situations are the one with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
in which a fan asked ofr permission *had*it*denied* and got the story
published anyway, complete with an editorial comment stating that they
*knew* Quinn had said no and they *knew* they were violating copyright.
Then these idoits balked at paying the minimum needed to rectify their own
errors.  The other one is the mess Marion Zimmer Bradley is in.  The
Friends of Darkover anthologies began because Bradley decided that some of
the fan fiction she was seeing was good enough for professional publication
and proceeded to make the arrangements to do so.  A number of new authors
have come up through those anthologies, including Lackey.  That avenue is,
apparently, going to be closed off because one twit and her husband don't
understand that *ideas* can't be copyrighted.  Rumor has it that they even
refused to accept a quite generous, for the size of idea in question, offer
to stop making any noise about it.  Her husband has been cited as being
eager to read a book by Bradley with an eye to suing over use of a very
minor plot element.  The result is that that book will not be published.
The publisher won't *touch* it at this point.

It has been claimed that the line of the future Henry V in Shakespeare's
_Henry IV_, "First thing let's do is shoot all the lawyers," is meant to
show his reckless youth.  In spite of having some lawyers for friends, I
think the sentiment has a good deal of excellent advice in it.  A society
*can* become "too litigious" for its own good.

Hal Heydt
Analyst, Pacific*Bell
510-823-5447
[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: 18 Jan 93 16:23:44 GMT
From: [e-mail]
Reply-to: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: Fan Fiction--Copyright Infringement? (LONG)

[e-mail] (Cassandra T. Kamuchey) writes:
> Recently, Mercedes Lackey, along with other science fiction authors, took
> steps to protect her copyright interests by focusing on fan generated
> fiction. The following was published in Lackey's official fanzine,
> "Queen's Own" ("QO"), written by Lackey and her husband and has been
> reprinted with the author's permission. I have copied the text as exactly
> as possible, including the capitalizations that appear; I am, however,
> not professing to be a perfect (or even adequate) typist.  Also, I have
> omitted some of the more repetitive text as it is over two pages long (as
> I warned you, this is a long post).

As the poster implied in the intro, one should be careful not to bite the
hand that feeds.  We buy these stories for our pleasure.  I have
contemplated writing in other BNA's worlds just for fun.  I realize that if
I did it for profit, I owe somebody money.  But if I do it for fun and
share it with friends (friends being defined as people who would enjoy it),
give me leave to do it.  I wasn't even aware there was a legal issue
involved.  This kind of protection illustrates an evil in our society.
This evil is that this sort of game playing with the thoughts of an author
which you need paper and pen or electronic media for is prohibited if the
author wants it that way.  I agree that an author's work should be
protected so that they can get whatever the market will bear for their work
but, is there real damage done by the 'playing'?  What should the defined
limits be on protection of ideas generated by an authors work?  To
concretize, from work of a recently dead author, if I wanted to write for
profit on the society of the 'Traders' from "Citizen of the Galaxy" by RAH,
I suspect I might need permission from the estate as well as some agreement
about royalties.  But if I used the ideas that RAH wrote about of that
society and wrote a novel ...

There is an issue in copyright law about derivative works but almost all of
these are written in terms of a second party making a profit from the first
party's work.

The case law goes on at length ....

I know I'm arguing both sides of the issue.  It does strike me, tho, that
it is not in the interest of the author to be so protective of the work.

Jeffery
[e-mail]

------------------------------

End of SF-LOVERS Digest
***********************