Fan fiction in general (was: MOVED from MAIN - "sequels" to the classics)

[Carol]

Magpie wrote:
> <snip>
> But whatever it is, it's not plagiarism, because I think that's very
specific. Plagiarism requires you to use a certain amount of actual 
text--and there also has to be an intention to deceive. Fanfic 
doesn't attempt to deceive anyone. On the contrary, the whole point is
that you know the source material--and it starts with warnings and 
disclaimers which not legally saying anything pretty much say that the
characters and world belong to the original creator. 

Carol responds:

First, please note that I said "akin to plagiarism," not plagiarism
per se. Also, plagiarism, unlike copyright violation, *does* cover the
use of other people's ideas even if you don't use their exact words.
If you use another person's ideas without crediting your source, for
example, you're plagiarizing whether or not you intended to deceive. A
bad paraphrase that retains vestiges of the original wording can also
be regarded as plagiarism, depending on the policies of the particular
university (or scholarly publisher).

Anyway, here are some links to what constitutes plagiarism at two
different universities:

http://www.student.mq.edu.au/plagiarism/

http://www.bio.miami.edu/dana/161/plagiarism.html

You'll notice that the guidelines closely resemble each other. Other
universities, including the one where I taught until 1998, have
similar policies. 

Teachers can fail students for plagiarism and universities can expel
them, but it's unclear (to me) what an author can do to protect
herself from having her titles, characters, and ideas borrowed or
stolen since copyright law applies only to the work as a whole (with
"fair use" as a protection for those who wish to discuss and quote
from the work without copyright infringement; in a published work,
even "fair use" generally requires permission from the copyright
owner). And no reputable publisher will knowingly publish fanfiction
based on the works of a living author unless the author permits it.
(IIRC, there are authorized "Star Wars" sequels, and I'm aware of one
author who writes authorized "Monk" novels--"Monk" being a TV series
about a detective with OCD, for anyone unfamiliar with it.) But submit
"Severus Snape and the Marauders" to any reputable publishing house
and see how far you get.

Ho wall this applies to Internet fanfic, I'm still not sure. Fanfic
writers, as you say, generally include a disclaimer stating that the
characters belong to the author or owner of the copyright/trademark,
and most fanfic writers, I would hope, have sense enough not to use
exact wording from the books whose characters and settings they're
using. But you don't have to violate copyright law to commit
plagiarism (intellectual dishonesty), which is probably why an author
can sue fanfic writers (and, sadly, vice versa). The fanfic writer who
sued what's her name wasn't suing over exact words but over a concept
or plot development, right? An author who borrows another person's
words is, of course, risking a lawsuit. But ideas and characters?
That's where it gets shaky. (Didn't someone try to sue JKR for
"stealing" the word "Muggle" from her books? Why wouldn't it work the
other way around? And if ideas, titles, and characters aren't
protected by copyright law, what grounds does JKR have for suing the
Lexicon, which properly cites all of its quoted material?) 

Carol, now thoroughly confused and not in the least tempted to write
fanfiction!