REPOST: Re: Legal Scenario: Slytherin!Rowling vs. the Fanfic Author

[ER <ression@hotmail.com>]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Heidi Tandy" <heidit at n...> 
wrote:
> Original,in this context, just means the lines that are the product 
of the fanfic author, not jkr. 
> 
> What did you first think it meant?
> 

I read "original" as the "first", the "earliest", the "initial", like 
Original Sin I guess. I thought you were saying that the FanFic 
author had copyright over JK's work! And that's not fair I 
thought ... then I reread the paragraph and realised what you meant.

I'm still puzzled about who has rights over what. To me, anything 
that anybody writes that uses (say) Hermione in her Hogwarts-form 
should belong to JK. It's her character, she built her up and 
anything anybody else has her do is just "borrowing" (and luckily JK 
doesn't object). If some FanFic writer gets "lucky" and hits on the 
exact very brave and surprising thing that Hermione does to defeat 
You-Know-Who, then I don't think JK should lose the right to use it! 
But a highly complex area I guess and lots of work for m'learned 
friends. Pistols at dawn, chaps!