[HPFGU-OTChatter] REPOST: Re: Legal Scenario: Slytherin!Rowling vs. the Fanfic Author

[heiditandy]

Bboy wrote:
> > 
> > Again, FanFic operates at a lose, doesn't deprive or divert the 
> > original author's sources of income, and therefore in my book, is
> not
> > a copyright violation. Also, despite being published on the
> Internet,
> > it exists for Private Use. It is distributed in limited forums of
> like
> > minded individuals for their private personal use.

ER wrote:
> Absolutely agree, but it's not what I was "worrying" about. I was 
> concerned about the fact (if I read Heidy Tandy's post correctly) 
> that you can use JK's characters and get them to do something 
> wonderful and then deprive JK of the right to have them do that same 
> thing without breaching some copyright that you now own.

Actually, that is what I was saying. If JKR uses a fanfic writer's exact
words, taken from the fanfic itself, then she would likely be infringing
on the fanficcer's copyright to do so, if you look to the Copyright
Act's specific language. If she merely used the same idea and different
words, there would be no cause of action under copyright at all. 

Second, Bboy is not accurate when it comes to the question of whether
something "published" on the internet is published for "Private Use".
There is no such concept under US copyright law. Limited forum? That's
only relevant to assessing the dollar figure for the damages done, not
whether an infringement exists at all. 

Heidi