These posts on were recently pointed out on a friend’s LiveJournal:
- Yes, stealing fan fiction is STILL Plagiarism (LiveJournal)
- A Matter of Recent Concern (Dragon’s Mark)
- Apology to the Community (Dragon’s Mark)
There were other posts I saw at rdi.dragonsmark.com that have since been deleted and/or moved to various holding tanks. I don’t know anyone involved, so I’m not going to question the banning issue, not without more information. However, from the messages I saw, the parties who may or may not have been banned were at the very least posting multiple off-topic threads instead of taking up the issue via PM or email – and the folder owner rightfully took exception to their disruption. It’s a dirty, ugly mess for the Admins to deal with.
I thought about the whole sordid situation at length, and it just leaves me with a stunned sort of “Bwahhhh?” feeling. Even taking the explanations at face value, it doesn’t make sense. I feel bad for everyone involved, but let me just say that I can’t even pretend to understand the motivations of paying for (or ripping off) someone else’s creative writing to use in a RP forum. I’m sure there’s a good reason. There would have to be.
It is interesting that such an uproar arises over the specter of plagiarism. If all that had happened was that someone had photoshopped someone else’s image and posted it as his own (or without attribution), no one would have batted an eye! I think the mindset is the same, and the concept is very similar. Except — I don’t know, maybe the written word is generally considered more valuable.
But there’s another level to this, aside from the accusations of plagiarism. The original posts (the ones subsequently posted at RDI/DM as ‘ghost written’) were fan fiction written about Pirates of the Caribbean characters. Even though most copyright holders choose not to prosecute, fan fiction is in itself generally considered copyright infringement and an unauthorized deriviative work.
In Fan Fiction Plagiarism at Plagiarism Today, Jonathan Bailey astutely noted:
“With fan fiction, the author doesn’t actually hold the copyright to the work they create, in fact, the work itself is technically a violation of copyright law. Since copyright law grants the copyright holder the exclusive right to create derivative works based on an original one, which is precisely what a fan fiction is, the original copyright holder, whoever owns the rights to the original work(s) owns the fan fiction regardless of who wrote it.
With that in mind, one doesn’t have a valid claim of copyright infringement when their fan fiction work is plagiarized.”
See also The Legality of Fan Fiction on the Net and FAQ about Fan Fiction.
It is ironic that someone who doesn’t respect the intellectual property rights of others is demanding his/her own intellectual property rights be acknowledged. Maybe people who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
Don’t get me wrong. This is a horrible situation all around. I find the idea of ripping off someone else’s words or art disgusting. The practice is even worse.
I’m afraid I’m in the minority, though.
The details on fan fiction’s legality and how unprotected it is are interesting, being that I’ve written more than my share in the past, and being that I’ve also found some of my fan fiction posted at another site as someone else’s. (EQ2 fanfiction)
I find most troubling this part: “If all that had happened was that someone had photoshopped someone else’s image and posted it as his own (or without attribution), no one would have batted an eye!”
True, and very sad. Why should image theft be any less vilified there?
I’m not sure MMORPG fiction really counts as fan fiction, as it uses a game subscriber’s original characters in someone else’s setting. However, I seem to remember reading some EULAs that basically implied that the subscriber’s creations were owned by the corporation running the game.
Plagiarism Today (http://www.plagiarismtoday.com) has a wealth of information about internet plagiarism and copyrights — including the limitations of copyright and what it doesn’t apply to. The site also has stock letters (Cease and Desist, DMCA notices) you might want to look into if you determine someone has been ripping off your work.
And yeah, the image theft angle really bothers me. How can it be okay to use a copyrighted image, without permission or even attribution, and not okay to use copyrighted words? They’re both unethical.
Well, I admit to being a hypocrite, and boy does it hurt to do so. I use images of actors to represent my characters. I’m not an artist, I can’t afford to buy an image for a hobby, and without an image it is difficult for people to acknowledge the character. Though, we did it well enough on AOL with just descriptions, it seems the environment on DM is a bit different in that respect. I do not use artists painted/drawn images that I have not been given permission to use, but the actor photographs they use as headshots or from promotional material of their work? Yes, I do use those. I know where I got the images, but I don’t link back to them.
So, to be completely ethical, I should remove those pictures. Stating who the actor is may not help, since they might not hold the copyright — the photographer might, and finding that person is going to be a pain. I’ve tried.
To illustrate a point, there was a man who took pictures of other pictures (those used for Marlboro man ads) and made them larger. He made money off of this and had an exhibit at prominant art museums and galleries. I don’t know if links work, but if you do a search for Prince Krantz Marlboro the article will come up.
I do my best to search for royalty free–free to use stock photography now if I must use a picture. And when I can’t find one, I just don’t.
However, I used to use any old picture I found from a search and doctor it if I had to or slap it up. I wouldn’t bother to credit, attribute or any of that sort.
It shames me, now that I have a tablet and have started to draw again. I wish that more people knew about royalty free stock (and places such as deviant art offer some good free use no restriction stock of models and objects) and I wish I had known about it years ago. :3
So to make a long rambling ramble short–I sympathize and understand what Sylvia is saying because I have been there, but the artist in me cringes now every time I see it.
As for the plagiarism, my confusion on this matter is well known and I agree with what you’ve posted, as well as what a few others have posted at DM about the issue.
Hmmn, if that part about fanfics actually belonging to the actual copyright holder is correct (and I certainly have no expertise to disagree). Would that mean by having Alysia Skye run around with lightsabers and becoming a Jedi Knight/Sith, you would be technically handing the reins of your character over to Lucas (or LucasArts, or whatever)?
That doesn’t seem like it would be the case, but the idea occurred to me while reading that part. And not that they would bother to do anything about it even if it was true…
I probably got it wrong in some way, I usually do (especially with legal stuff)…
P.S. Of course, I could just have asked when you got home, but I would have probably forgotten…
You should probably read the other blog entry on the lightsaber thing if you somehow missed it and the commentary about Rhydin versus Rhilshen.
With that concern, do you believe that people roleplaying a non-canon character in an online SWD20 campaign are somehow “handing the reigns of their characters over to Lucas” by describing their characters using laser swords?
Or that people roleplaying a random drow are handing the reigns of their character to WotC or whoever holds those rights because they’re using the word drow for a dark skinned subterranean elf?
How about if you roleplay or write that a character is drinking a Coke or wearing clothing from The Gap? Are you “handing the reigns” over to the respective owners of those trademarks?
I’m not sure it works that way, but if anyone’s got the time to find out, it’s probably you.
You did get it wrong. I know we’ve talked about this before, but you can’t copyright a concept. You can only copyright a particular expression of a concept. Specific names and titles can be protected by trademark.
The link for FAQ about Fan Fiction should be particularly helpful for you to understand trademark and copyright issues as they apply to fan fiction. If you have any questions, I strongly suggest you read that first.
Incidentally, if I wanted to write up some in-game RP involving my original character played in the MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies, that writing would completely and exclusively belong to SOE (and LucasArts too, probably) under the terms of their End User License Agreement. See Paragraph 8 of the SWG EULA.
I hadn’t planned on using any canon characters or settings (or even phrases) in my writing about Alysia, although I understand LucasArts is fairly lenient about fan creations. Given that Alysia Skye has never been played in SWG, it’s kind of a non-issue, don’t you think?
Sylvia -> Let me know who the actor is and I’ll try to find a legitimate image — or see if I can use those photos to come up with an original image for you.
I was waaaaay too tempted to post on one of the LJ sites asking the very question about the groups apparent standards when it comes to breaching copyright with every fanfic they write, and using copyright images for avatars… but… since the reason their accounts on DM were removed was cause they were only made to ’stir the pot’, I didn’t think that would a smart thing to do.
Maybe the whole avatar thing is for images as fanfic is to the written word? Yes, by the definition of it, it’s breach of copyright – but most “artists” allow because it in the end helps promote them?
I’m talking the major players here, movie studios/actors, gaming companies, comics, etc.
I don’t know if it’s 100% true, but I did read on one site about how Lucas Arts is fine with fan-movies, but not so fine with fan-fiction. Not sure why there would be a distinction.
I don’t think artists consider it promotion when their images are used in internet avatars. I think it’s “allowed” only because they don’t know about it. It’s still a copyright violation — unless the image is public domain.
It’s up to the artist to decide if he/she wants the “promotion.” From what I have seen, when artists find out someone has been using their images without permission or attribution, they’re livid.
Federal courts have noted that “misappropriation of personality,” a tort, is any use of a celebrity’s image or likeness “for the value associated with it and not in an incidental manner or for a newsworthy purpose.” Celebrities have something called right of publicity to control how their name, image and likeness are used.
Even if you don’t get caught. . . it’s still wrong.
It’s only recently (2007) that Lucas has endorsed fan movies based on fan fiction. Before then he was understandably stern about protecting his intellectual property.
On avatars as promotion — Some studios and companies release icon/avatar sets with familiar images for forum use, and there are certainly lots of images specifically made available as free by the artists/photographers with linkback on deviantart, are you talking about those sort of situations?
Otherwise, I think most artists allow it because they don’t know about it.
The ones that want that kind of promotion usually say “it’s okay to use this image for X.”
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