load it, check it, quick - rewrite it

[furiosity]

0001 - A reminder! Don't Like Don't Read is only a logical and reasonable defence if the person hasn't actually read it already or had ample warning they wouldn't like it but read it anyway (i.e. "don't complain about Mpreg in a fic if there's a clear label on the header" = reasonable. "if you don't like Mpreg, don't read it!" when NO labels are

Comments

[coffeejunkii]

is it actually legal in japan? i'm asking because i read a book recently--lawrence lessig's free culture--which gave me the impression that it's also copyright infringement in japan, technically, but tolerated for multiple reasons. but the book is a few years old, so maybe the legal situation has changed?

i always warn for mpreg :D.

[furiosity]

Hm, you know, I sort of keep hearing (in the past year or so since I became involved in Japanese fandoms) from people who seem to Know Better that it's legal but I could be wrong about all derivative work being legal, maybe it only applies to specific media? But Comiket, where vast quantities of fan-produced doujinshi are sold every year, is one of the biggest industry events in Japan -- if infringing work were merely tolerated, I somehow doubt this would still happen. :? IDK.

I would warn for mpreg if I ever wrote it! :D

[coffeejunkii]

lessig does talk about comiket and kind of marvels that it takes place. iirc, he muses that the realization that fanworks ultimately up profits of the original plus a general unwillingness to put in the labor to prosecute fanartists results in tolerating the doujinshi industry. his book is available under a creative commons license here, btw, in case you want to read more [his books is about recent changes in american copyright and how that infringes upon people's possibility to create transformative works. it's a good read].

[furiosity]

Oh, thank you! I will definitely read it. ^_^ I've amended my post to link to your above comment re: its legality. In general, I think if a (canon) creator and/or her publishers are okay with fan-creators selling their works, that's also okay even if the law disagrees. But with HP, it's like, JKR actually told us, write it, draw it, just don't sell it, and keep the porn away from the kiddies. That's pretty generous considering the likes of Anne McCaffrey and Robin Hobb, so.

[coffeejunkii]

you're welcome! what i really like about the book is that lessig is a lawyer who did corporate law for years before feeling it was getting out of hand and quitting [he's now a professor]. so he can confidently lay out the legal context, but does it in very accessible language.

i think non-commercial transformative works, like fanfic etc., should be legal regardless of the creators' preferences. in the meantime, i appreciate that some authors, like jkr, have enough sense not to feel threatened by their fans.

[ook]

It's not really legal in Japan but that big companies look the other way over there because they know (and appreciate) that fans are what they make their money off of. The Japanese fans do seem go out of their way to stay out of the Western fan markets though -- they won't sell copies to Western fans and I've even heard of some Japanese refusing to sell to Westerners at Japanese doujinshi conventions because they don't want the doujinshi showing up on eBay (and attracting the attention of Warner Bros. or some big media company). Many Japanese fan sites have instructions/passwords that are nearly impossible for Western fans to figure out.