OTW has been mentioned on
Ethan Zuckerman's blog.
By using the word "transformative" in the organization name, the organizers of the group are advocating a legal argument - writing fan fiction based on the characters and universes of copyright-protected media is a transformative use, protected by fair use clauses in US copyright law. In other
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I think it's important to mention that a claim to fanfic's legality is not the same as a claim about it's marketability--that saying "this is legal" doesn't mean "this should be sellable."
Sex is legal. Doesn't mean you can sell it. (In most states.) Doesn't mean you can perform it at city hall, either.
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It's a great nuisance that many authors and publishers seem to think that literary entertainment is a zero-sum game: that if readers enjoy more fanfic, they'll read less original works, or if they get some books for free, they'll refuse to buy that many books next year, or something like that.
As if we allocated ourselves 500,000 words per year to read, and eight books per year to buy, and when we hit the limit, we stop.
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Therein lies the difference between an homage and fanfic, legalities aside. One honors the source, the other doesn’t.
With that, he demonstrates quite clearly just how little he knows about fanfic and fan writers.
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