David Dyer-Bennet wrote: > Joshua Kronengold <mneme at io.com> writes: >>The point is that fixing copyright to anyone's lifespan is ludicrous >>unless you think the possibility of someone writing a parody or fanfic >>(or even commercial variant on same) is a tragedy. And as much as it >>might feel like one (just like, say, a negative review), it's not -- >>it's just a thing. > > > Parody is protected fair use, so that's not at issue. Most fanfic > *is* a tragedy. The better fanfic is a tragedy *twice* (they should > have been writing something original). Why? I have read some very good fan fic that wouldn't have been half as effective if had been totally original and some that would have been impossible if they had been original. If fan fic writers wanted to write something totally original they would (and some do that as well) but that isn't what they are trying to do when they write fic. Fides