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Post by piedflycatcher on May 31, 2007 12:36:23 GMT
I don't know how many of you have a LiveJournal account, but there's been a bit of a storm going off there lately... A new website called Fanlib has attracted a lot of outrage because it is quite clearly set up to make a profit out of fanfiction. I won't go into all the details here, but you can find a lengthy explanation of what's been going on here: icarusancalion.livejournal.com/626928.htmlAlso here: www.journalfen.net/community/fandom_wank/1082060.htmlWhat all this brings up is a very important and touchy issue for fandom: the legal status of fanfiction. Fanfiction occupies something of a legal grey area... We use the copyrighted work of other writers in our own writing, but as long as we don't make any profit from it, companies like Square Enix turn a blind eye. But when a fanfiction site like Fanlib wants to make a profit out of fanfiction, where does that leave us? Opinions? Comments? I'd like to know if anyone else has heard anything about this.
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Post by Azul Eyes on May 31, 2007 12:53:58 GMT
You're kidding me, right? Couldn't they make it illegal to post fanfiction online because of that?!
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Post by ladyvaltaya on May 31, 2007 13:00:28 GMT
Unfortunately yes, the company that owns the characters and whatnot can dissallow any fanworks featuring those characters.
Ann Rice and Archie are just two examples of works that it is not legal to post fanworks around....
Stay far, far away from sites that stand to make a profit on copyrighted material that isn't thiers.
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Post by piedflycatcher on May 31, 2007 13:11:56 GMT
Yes, exactly. That's the worry a lot of people have. Not to mention it isn't exactly moral to exploit fanfiction writers who are sharing their work for free and out of love for their fandom in order to make money...
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Post by ladyvaltaya on May 31, 2007 14:16:45 GMT
Indeed it doesn't seem legal somehow to find a way to make money on fanfiction that is posted freely because it is plagaism if the author tries to make money on it. ![>:(](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/angry.png) I don't understand how they an get away with setting it up let alone actually launching a site like that....
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Post by Azul Eyes on May 31, 2007 15:43:44 GMT
It doesn't make any sense to me how they did it, but as long as they don't ruin fan fiction for everyone else, I don't care. They just need to get caught.
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Post by marilena on May 31, 2007 20:24:26 GMT
Fanfiction won't be banned in the recent future in my opinion, no matter what, for two reasons: first, even the companies who own the rights to each fandom gain some profit from it, and I don't mean money. I mean fans. Think about it, if there was no fanfiction, people would get excited about a fandom at first, but then slowly threir interest would die, because the characters would remain static, 'only in the game'. Now, they can get to know them better, enjoy them, and explore possibilities. Second,the net is so huge and difficult to check thoroughly that fanfiction sites would always sprout like mushrooms. It is inevitable. ;D So, I don't worry much about whether or not there will be fanfiction, but more on the repulation of 'talentless plagiariazers' it tends to get lately... ![:(](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/sad.png) Especially because of sites like FanLib.
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sckry
Materia Dealer
Posts: 68
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Post by sckry on May 31, 2007 22:09:29 GMT
Trying to make a profit on fanfiction is just pointless. People who write and read it do it because they appreciate the story/characters enough to want to explore it some more, like Marilena said.
How exactly DO you make a profit out of Fan fiction any way? Do they charge you to post it or read it or what?
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Post by piedflycatcher on May 31, 2007 22:23:09 GMT
No... I think the money comes from advertisements. ff.net also has advertisements, but I think that's just to cover the costs of running the site. Fanlib intend to make a profit if they can. It all comes across as very commercial... just read the posts.
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Post by Captain Wee on Jun 1, 2007 3:31:20 GMT
I think its time to teach those fools a lesson.
*ignites blowtorch*
But seriously, thats one of the shadiest things I've ever heard of. Fanlib knows what its doing, and they're trying to make a buck off it? Trash, those guys are trash.
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Erissa
SOLDIER Third Class
Pretty boys are FTW.
Posts: 630
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Post by Erissa on Jun 1, 2007 9:04:50 GMT
Okay this is what I understood from reading some of those articles (which has links to more links... ):What fanlib is about is really exploitation of writers-cheap labour. When you submit your work to fanlib they are free to edit, reproduce, distribute, perform your work, etc without paying you royalty. They have online writing competitions for some popular fandom (one I have heard of is Ghost Whisperers) and give out gift vouchers and T-shirts to certain writers for submitting their work. Their promo partners include Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Starz, and Showtime Networks. What the fandom people have been saying all over the internet is that fanlib plans to sell off the works posted on their site. So basically they get the big pay from cashing in your stories and the poor writers lose the right to their own work and get meagre or lame prizes. Note that this is not my personal opinion. This is just what I have gathered from reading articles. I checked out fanlib's TOS and it seems they have amended it since the time people posted some of those articles. Check it out here: www.fanlib.com/termsOfUse.doPossible motives and company background (just one of the links): kitesareevil.livejournal.com/257387.html?format=lightMeh anyway I haven't heard a single good thing about them and it seems it already has a very bad reputation throughout fandom, so yeah FFnet works fine for me thank you (even though I wish FFnet has a rating system so that we know how to avoid those crappy fics...then again if the people who rate it are squealing fangirls it won't do much good). Pied, not related to the post but do you think we should advertise and draw in writers from fanlib to GA anyway?Haha joking, it's not popular and I think they are less than 10 FF VII fics there. Marilena I agree with what you said about fanfiction. It's not likely to be stamped out anytime soon and as far as FF VII is concerned I don't think the Japanese are very strict about this matter (from what I have heard), but maybe Lily knows more. ![:P](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/tongue.png)
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vehrec
Slum Dweller
Can't finish FF6
Posts: 11
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Post by vehrec on Jun 1, 2007 13:31:51 GMT
Japan is indeed very loose about it's copyright laws, in much the same way that China is. Did you hear about the fake Disneyworld the Chinese built? Anyways, the mere existence of Dojin in Japan is evidence of how seriously they take most copyrights. However, even in the united states, you can only copyright the form of an idea, not the idea itself. The Fair Use clause establishes some guidelines that give fanfiction some protection so long as it remains derivative and non-profit. Of course, some people might object, but I don't feel that they have a leg to stand on here. The whole reason copyrights exist is to protect some artist's work until they can turn a profit. We don't interfere in that, we just take ideas and run with them.
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Post by Neophyte Ronin on Jun 2, 2007 4:00:17 GMT
The benefits package sucks. My solution: don't go there. The end.
"96% of all fanfiction writers are women."
SWEET JESUS! You weren't kidding, Pied!
P.S. I read the article on "Why fanfiction makes authors poor." At some point I stopped reading and re-evaluated myself. Then I realized I still consider women the superior sex because I'll end up pulling something stupid, like saying something derogatory on stage during amateur stand-up comedy night, get capped in the butt, die, and then the assailant (any-race male) goes to prison and becomes some big guy's boyfriend, because he hadn't enough sense to equip a silencer. Meanwhile, all the women are chatting amicably in a corner, perfectly safe and sound. Also note how the first writing workshop I attended... I was the only guy... and the youngest! For once I feel how it is to be in the minority.
Anytime I sounded like I was dissin' or anything... I've tried real hard to amend those times.
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