Stories and stuff
Summerstorm
Heyla, all. it just occurred to me to ask something: Does anyone
know what the legal status of these little story-like posts we've been
tossing around is? I mean, I'm having a blast, but I'd hate to think we're
doing something that would upset the one who gave us this wonderful world.
I'm no lawyer, so would someone please address this issue!
Summerstorm
cllr...@sound.net
Summerstorm, Summerstorm, Summerstorm, oh are you going to make a lot of
people in this group mad. Not that anyone flames anyone, you understand.
But knowingly asking a legal question in a group with a lawyer? Knowing
that this lawyer can never say anything in one word where 3,473.5 will do?
Knowing that you have given him an open invitation to pulpitate for lines
and lines
and lines
and lines
and lines
and lines
and lines
and are you getting the picture yet?
(If someone should virtually assault you for this, I know a lawyer who is
virtually certain he can win the case against the assaultor.)
Well, unaccustomed as I am to public streaking...speaking...I accept your
kind invitation. (And all of you back there groaning loudly, just hush
up!) I will retire now (don't you all just wish) to prepare my
hallucin...lucid remarks and commentary.
Dave in his three-piece persona
Herald Erica Skinfaxi
>>
>> Heyla, all. it just occurred to me to ask something: Does anyone
>>know what the legal status of these little story-like posts we've been
>>tossing around is? I mean, I'm having a blast, but I'd hate to think we're
>>doing something that would upset the one who gave us this wonderful world.
>>I'm no lawyer, so would someone please address this issue!
>>
>> Summerstorm
>>
That all depends on to whose world you're referring . . . We
*certainly* aren't in Valdemar most of the time; the story-like
posts seem to be set in a sort of cross-roads, where all manner
of creatures can meet.
This is a *darned* good thing, 'cause Misty has said no on-line
fan fiction set in her world or using her characters. Those of
us who have been Chosen may be a bit iffy, but we are using our
*own* personae, after all. <Sigh>
Technically, I believe things written are automatically
copyrighted (at least in North America -- does anybody know about
the rest of the world?) from the moment of their creation by
their creator.
Since Dave's stifled his initial impulse to legalspeak at us,
does anybody else have a viewpoint?
Zhai'helleva,
Herald Erica
vj
* Heyla, all. it just occurred to me to ask something: Does anyone
*know what the legal status of these little story-like posts we've been
*tossing around is? I mean, I'm having a blast, but I'd hate to think we're
*doing something that would upset the one who gave us this wonderful world.
*I'm no lawyer, so would someone please address this issue!
* Summerstorm
Misty has some VERY strict rules................check the FAQ from
Fluffy, and that should explain...........
vicki
(@)-----------------]Quote of the Day[-----------------(@)
| They're worse fates than being hard to break, |
| heart included. |
| Need - Winds of Fate - 421 |
(@)----------------------------------------------------(@)
cllr...@sound.net
>
> Heyla, all. it just occurred to me to ask something: Does anyone
>know what the legal status of these little story-like posts we've been
>tossing around is? I mean, I'm having a blast, but I'd hate to think we're
>doing something that would upset the one who gave us this wonderful world.
>I'm no lawyer, so would someone please address this issue!
>
> Summerstorm
>
Actually, Dave hasn't stifled his desire to legalspeak. He'd be drummed
and bugled out of the corps if word of THAT ever got out. However, I have
a few friends who are intellectual property experts, so I thought I'd ask a
few questions and speak straight (ahem) on the subject. I'm aware of ML's
desire not to have her world or her characters used since they're protected
by her copyright...which is of course what she's entitled to. But what
we're doing here in a variety of forms is building on some of her concepts,
but using them differently. Whether anything we publish in a story format
is really copyrighted without that copyright notice is, if memory serves,
debatable, once it has gotten beyond your computer or your home. Law
school memory says that if you slip up and let the document out without the
notice you can go back and "recapture" it if you do so within a reasonable
time. Anyway, let me find out what I can, since without intending any
disrespect to ML, she is quite naturally looking out for her own best
interests, and any advice she may "give" on copyright restrictions,
specifically or generally, may be colored by that fact.
More later.
Dave
Redwolfe
money on someoneelse's copyright. You know like writing a book with ML's
characters. And hey wouldn't ML be proud of us. I mean we do worship her and
all.
Vicky
Charles Lacour
> Heyla, all. it just occurred to me to ask something: Does anyone
>know what the legal status of these little story-like posts we've been
>tossing around is? I mean, I'm having a blast, but I'd hate to think we're
>doing something that would upset the one who gave us this wonderful world.
>I'm no lawyer, so would someone please address this issue!
> Summerstorm
Use of ML's characters is definitely forbidden. Use of those parts of her
world that are uniquely hers is also forbidden (eg, names such as Velgarth,
Pelargir (sp?), terms such as "shaych" ). An animal companion (lower-case
"c") who is telepathic and interacts with the human character is ok. Even
"bonding" with the human is ok, because those concepts have been used by
many different authors. Referring to such a creature as a Companion
(capital "C") is probably verboten. Probably the best rule to use is
something like this:
Take someone who is familiar with a wide range of fantasy, (including ML's
works) and give them a description of the character/scene/thing. If they
automatically identify it as "oh, that comes out of Mercedes Lackey's
stuff", you shouldn't use it.
For creating a new [whatever] I make sure I don't use any proper names out
of anybody's stuff. I may invent a name that fits the "language" used, but
I try to make sure I avoid anything too close to one that the author used.
Then, I intentionally pull things from two or three other authors to
"customize" it a bit. I'm an inveterate tinkerer, so there's usually quite
a few changes before I'm done, but all you really need to do is make it
noticeably different in some respect from the author's version of that
[whatever] so that anyone who looks at it will say, "Well, it's almost like
ML's xxxxx, but hers [can/can't] do yyyy."
Hope this helps,
Charley
Charles Lacour
>Vicky
Nope. You can get in trouble for using somebody else's stuff regardless
of whether you make money on it or not. If you DID make money, it's just
about guaranteed that that money would be one of the targets in a lawsuit
(if there ever was a lawsuit).
Take a for-instance: Somebody writes a short-story and makes some minor
Velgarth character the evil, bad one, and offs them in fine heroic style.
The story is quite popular, spreads all over the place, and everybody
adopts it as part of the whole Velgarth mythos. Six months later, Misty
comes out with her new book, in which said character is the hero and main
character. Book goes over with a dull thud (imagine a book where Ancar or
Ma'ar is the character you're supposed to be sympathetic to). Misty loses
LOTS of money. She's not going to be happy about that.
I doubt any of us are going to get sued, even where we're clearly in
violation of the rule (the terms kyree, Pelargir, Companion and Chosen all
come to mind, although the last two are somewhat iffy). The case of people
using Velgarth-related (or other ML-world-related, for that matter) stuff
as usenames on the Internet is borderline, because it's pretty obviously
not fiction. (Of course, SOME of the stuff that goes on here had BETTER be
classified as fiction or they're coming to take us away, hah hah!) If you
want to be completely safe, just change things around a bit. Kiyrhy instead
of kyree, Harberel Mountains instead of Pelargir Hills, and so on (and if
you don't like my invented names as well as Misty's, well... that's why
SHE's selling the books).
Charley
Anne Elizabeth Baldwin
>>actually made money on someoneelse's copyright. You know like
>>writing a book with ML's characters. And hey wouldn't ML be proud of
>>us. I mean we do worship her and all.
>
>>Vicky
>
> Nope. You can get in trouble for using somebody else's stuff
>regardless of whether you make money on it or not. If you DID make
>money, it's just about guaranteed that that money would be one of the
>targets in a lawsuit (if there ever was a lawsuit).
>
>
> I doubt any of us are going to get sued, even where we're clearly
>in violation of the rule (the terms kyree, Pelargir, Companion and
>Chosen all come to mind, although the last two are somewhat iffy).
>The case of people using Velgarth-related (or other ML-world-related,
>for that matter) stuff as usenames on the Internet is borderline,
>because it's pretty obviously not fiction. (Of course, SOME of the
>stuff that goes on here had BETTER be classified as fiction or
>they're coming to take us away, hah hah!) If you want to be
>completely safe, just change things around a bit. Kiyrhy instead of
>kyree, Harberel Mountains instead of Pelargir Hills, and so on (and
>if you don't like my invented names as well as Misty's, well...
>that's why SHE's selling the books).
>
>Charley
Very true. I've been learning about U.S. copyright law in school,
at lest on an applyable basis. It's pretty relevant to future
librarians. We concentrate on what's legal and what's illegal with
COPYING, but we touch on the rest, too.
You don't need to make money to be taken to court. You don't even
have to cost an author money to be taken to court. Techinically, all
you have to do is use their stuff. Practically, though, you probably
won't find yourself in court unless the way you use their stuff
affects or threatens to affect either their money-making ability or
their creative control. Considering all the warnings we have, I'd be
extra careful; if I wondered if it could be perceived as a threat, I
would probably not use it.
One thing which I suspect we can count on in this newsgroup is
that, given that we have a representative watcher and all, we can be
pretty certain that if a post actually gets too close for comfort, the
poster will probably get a warning first. That's both good manners and
good legal planning. If you have proof that someone was warned and
ignored it, that should be better than just jumping on them
immediately. Of course, if anyone ever gets a warning, they should
drop the subject immediately.
Anne
Elizabeth
Baldwin
Patricia A. Swan
> Anne
> Elizabeth
> Baldwin
And if the choice is made to go for statutory damages instead of
actual damaged in an infringment suit, you are talking about
*big* bucks. There is a two part article on copyright law in
WRITER'S DIGEST this month and next month. Next month is
specifically on copyright and electronic media such as the
Internet.
Take care,
pat
--
Patricia A. Swan
moderator, rastb5.mod The Gray Council(sa...@deepthot.cary.nc.us)
zaf...@cygnus-wnc.com zaf...@aol.com zaf...@super.zippo.com
Carolina Word and Data Services, 213 Franklin St., Bryson City,NC
kyrra
-)And if the choice is made to go for statutory damages instead of
-)actual damaged in an infringment suit, you are talking about
-)*big* bucks. There is a two part article on copyright law in
-)WRITER'S DIGEST this month and next month. Next month is
-)specifically on copyright and electronic media such as the
-)Internet.
-)Take care,
-)pat
::::: just so you know..............i did ask about Kyrra.........and she
is on relatively safe ground so far............but then i try hard to be
careful...................:::::
Kyrra
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is a great deal of babbling going on tonight.
Leyuet