OTW mentioned on Zuckerman's blog and Boing Boing

Dec 13, 2007 12:38

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 ( Read more... )

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amireal December 13 2007, 19:30:43 UTC
*possibly commented on that as well*

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elfwreck December 13 2007, 22:22:44 UTC
Gaaah I let myself get dragged into discussions at Scalzi's blog. Now I'm worried that some total strangers are gonna think "who IS this wingnut?" (Okay, not exactly "worried." I'm not a BNF, but I'm also not hard to find if anyone wants to figure out "who is this person and why is she ranting at me?")

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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mythusmage December 13 2007, 22:34:10 UTC
Ask Baen Books about (1632) fanfic. :)

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elfwreck December 13 2007, 22:49:14 UTC
I adore Baen Books' attitude towards readers and fen. And their happy greedy acknowlegment that "the more people who read this stuff for free, the more books we sell. And the more interaction between authors and fans, the more books we sell. Wow, this open access thing sure is a cash cow."

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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lynnenne December 14 2007, 04:14:49 UTC
I don't know how you maintained your cool with commenters like Ed Bartlett on that thread. I found his comparison of fanfic to a "quilting bee" sexist and condescending. But the remark that annoyed me the most was this:

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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elfwreck December 14 2007, 04:23:38 UTC
I'm rather enjoying the back-and-forth with him; I rarely get the openings to explain Why Fanfic Is A Good Thing in neat, succinct posts ( ... )

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