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Copyright law does not extend to an idea. If we were to right a book, similar to Harry Potter, possibly inspired by Harry Potter, but not Harry Potter... we would not be sued. Or we would be protected by the law if we were. We are not copying the book, we are creating out own work. It's like Andy Warhol painting soup cans. It's *art*. We're creating our own art out of someone else's, that is not illegal.
There is also the matter of Fair Use and Fair Dealing, and two things they examine when fair use comes into play are what amount and proportion of the whole work was taken, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. We don't steal whole paragraphs. We don't copy pages. Occasionally we lift a line or two, and we recreate a situation, but we don't do it to copy. We do it to create. We don't take a lot, beyond character names, and the Idea, and we're not damaging the market. In fact fanfic writers are like free advertising. If a fanfic writer I like happens to write something for a fandom I know nothing about, and I liked the fanfic and when I looked things up it sounded like a good read/watch/etc, then I would probably track it down. We make no money off of this, and none of us are telling people not to buy the original book.
We're developing characters, situations, and ideas so they are our own. Fandom!Draco is not Canon!Draco at all. Fandom!Fuji rarely resembles Canon!Fuji. The ideas and stories and characters evolve until we have created our own universe out of someone else's.
A lot of writers ask for people not to write fanfic about their work. Anne McCaffery used to, before she set up her own archive for Pern works. She still requests you don't write slash about her characters though. Raymond Feist, Anne Rice, Laurrell K. Hamilton ask you not to write/archive fanfiction about their characters. (Or for Laurell K it's 'I don't want to know, so don't tell me') For the most part fans don't, though some violate that request. Fans tend to respect authors, and until recently fandom hasn't been something that was publicly acknowledged. Because it's started to hit mainstream now people are beginning to wonder about it's legality.
We're not stealing, we're creating.
...just something I felt needed to be said. My view on it all. Feel free to comment with 'dur, you're an idiot'. Here's Ai's original post, feel free to jump in and give your own comment! Or read what everyone else has been saying.
There is also the matter of Fair Use and Fair Dealing, and two things they examine when fair use comes into play are what amount and proportion of the whole work was taken, and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work. We don't steal whole paragraphs. We don't copy pages. Occasionally we lift a line or two, and we recreate a situation, but we don't do it to copy. We do it to create. We don't take a lot, beyond character names, and the Idea, and we're not damaging the market. In fact fanfic writers are like free advertising. If a fanfic writer I like happens to write something for a fandom I know nothing about, and I liked the fanfic and when I looked things up it sounded like a good read/watch/etc, then I would probably track it down. We make no money off of this, and none of us are telling people not to buy the original book.
We're developing characters, situations, and ideas so they are our own. Fandom!Draco is not Canon!Draco at all. Fandom!Fuji rarely resembles Canon!Fuji. The ideas and stories and characters evolve until we have created our own universe out of someone else's.
A lot of writers ask for people not to write fanfic about their work. Anne McCaffery used to, before she set up her own archive for Pern works. She still requests you don't write slash about her characters though. Raymond Feist, Anne Rice, Laurrell K. Hamilton ask you not to write/archive fanfiction about their characters. (Or for Laurell K it's 'I don't want to know, so don't tell me') For the most part fans don't, though some violate that request. Fans tend to respect authors, and until recently fandom hasn't been something that was publicly acknowledged. Because it's started to hit mainstream now people are beginning to wonder about it's legality.
We're not stealing, we're creating.
...just something I felt needed to be said. My view on it all. Feel free to comment with 'dur, you're an idiot'. Here's Ai's original post, feel free to jump in and give your own comment! Or read what everyone else has been saying.
