BBM Fan Fiction Feels the Chilling Effects

[Marge_Innavera]

According to its own policies, LJ does NOT delete anything from account holders' sites, and does not enter copyright disputes: it simply locks access if there is a violation of its policies or evidence of a violation of its policies, such as admission of copying, proof of copying, or of copyright infringement.

LJ would not risk a lawsuit if it came down to dollars and cents, and I'm sure everyone know that. If S&S or anyone else with the clout decides that these are copyright violations, they'd have to be as loony as Emperor Norton to risk losing their shirts simply for the satisfaction of being intransigent about policy.

[louisev]

LJ is not the content owner.  You may wish to familiarize yourself with the DCMA statements made by Livejournal.  Once they have fulfilled their obligations under DCMA and advised the disputing parties, they are only obligated to do as the DCMA requires them to do. 

www.livejournal.com

[moremojo]

I see a potential way around this problem (and Lord, I hope I'm not opening another legal can of worms here). But it seems to me that fanfic writers and readers could go off-line in their pursuits--literally, taking their work off the Internet and transposing it onto good old-fashioned paper with good old-fashioned ink. The resulting work could be shared, without monetary profit, via mail or through actual physical meetings. A kind of fanfic samizdat culture, if you will, could result. As long as nothing is actually being published commercially, and no one is making any money off of it, I don't see how it would me much of a problem to the copyright holders (or even, for that matter, how they would even come to know of it).

[louisev]

off the net, certainly, but putting things in print is the most costly and the hardest to distribute.

the real solution to the problem of the big grey area of untested intellectual property law for fan fiction is as Henry Jenkins proposes in his blog, a landmark case that puts fan fiction against the four tests of copyright in order to put into law the 21st century art forms of cultural participation, and make it officially a class of 'commentary/criticism' because the perceived notion that the owner of a property has the exclusive right to dictate all use EXCEPT derogatory parody and all forms of academic comment and criticism, makes tribute fan fiction and cultural participation of a non commercial nature a truly paradoxical condition that was not intended as part of the copyright act.

[ifyoucantfixit]

   The legal entities, are creating a kind of legal gestapo!  The other evening I received an e-mail, from someone asking for my archived records of the Laramie Saga.  I dont, and didnt know them from Adam .  I simply reported back to them, that I have copied them to cds.  I no longer have the entire tome on my
computer.  I was rather leery of having any connection with a total stranger about a storyline which I knew had been given warnings about its continued distribution.  I feel bad for the person, if they were legitimate.  However I felt I should also protect myself, from any further complicency with any legal issues that may or may not have transpired.  I am ashamed to say.  I was afraid.  Probably with no reasons.  But the truth is, the truth..

[Marge_Innavera]

I see a potential way around this problem (and Lord, I hope I'm not opening another legal can of worms here). But it seems to me that fanfic writers and readers could go off-line in their pursuits--literally, taking their work off the Internet and transposing it onto good old-fashioned paper with good old-fashioned ink. The resulting work could be shared, without monetary profit, via mail or through actual physical meetings. A kind of fanfic samizdat culture, if you will, could result. As long as nothing is actually being published commercially, and no one is making any money off of it, I don't see how it would me much of a problem to the copyright holders (or even, for that matter, how they would even come to know of it).

That could certainly be an option, with the biggest challenge being communication. That is, (1) people knowing about your work and (2) exchanging addresses. #2 isn't always a problem but people are sometimes hesitant to give out home addresses to people they don't know well.

Printing is another challenge, although libraries can be an economical choice. Printers vary widely on how good a buy you can get on ink, but none of it's cheap.

[Marge_Innavera]

I saw a message from LawGoddess over the weekend.  The policy is to forbid discussion of Cease and Desist orders and came from Dave. 

Sorry, I misunderstood your post; I thought you were claiming there was a ban on discussing fanfiction. The message specifically mentioned the copyright issues.

[louisev]

right Marge,

That is the topic of this thread:  the discussion of copyright issues.  Discussion is allowed here - it is not allowed on Davecullen.com.

[souxi]

Every time I click on this link for this story I get a message. Does this mean that this story has had to be taken down? I know she wrote an awful lot of stuff about Heath, most of it extreemly graphic.

http://niims.livejournal.com/25825.html

[yb]

Every time I click on this link for this story I get a message. Does this mean that this story has had to be taken down? I know she wrote an awful lot of stuff about Heath, most of it extreemly graphic.

http://niims.livejournal.com/25825.html

souxi

niims has locked her journal.  You'll have to ask her to friend you to access it.