Fides wrote: > > J.Jasper wrote: > > > > Fides wrote: > > >>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. > > > > > >>From a legal standpoint, fanfic is a copyright violation. It endangers > > an author's right to work within their own creation. > > How? > If they fail to challenge the fanfic, and later come up with a similar idea, the author of the fanfic can sue them and prevent them from using their own work. It's happened before with a well known fantasy author. > Propagating fanfic > > in public without permission is an insult, not praise. > > By public I am assuming you mean on the internet or at conventions. > Yes. > > Doing so with permission is fine. Some TV show copyright owners > > intentionally turn a blind eye towards fanfic because they like the fans > > who write it and are unconcerned about having their rights violated. As > > a personal choice, that's OK, but if you intend to publicly release > > fanfic, ask the author first. > > Which author? Or do you mean the producer? Or the director? Or the actor > who protrays the character? Or the Executives? Or the Network? Or all > of them? The owner. In the case of Kung Fu, The Legend Continues, IIRC, David Caradine was contacted, and the show's staff knew about the zines, and were OK with them in the sense that they didn't challenge them legally. It's a rather delicate issue because any legal acknowledgement that the zines even exist is a danger for the copyright owners. > > If they say no, respect their wishes. > > Which doesn't make it a tragedy. It just makes it illegal (unless of > course it is a parady or otherwise covered by fair use) and, in your > opinion, an insult. Yep. In my opinion, poor manners are a tragedy.