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Ebonyswanne
Gatchamaniac
I am a Swan.
23 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 25-04-2007
Posts: 5592
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26-03-2019 11:25
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Julieann
Newbie
I am an Eagle.
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-09-2010
Posts: 43
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quote: | Originally posted by Becky Rock
Forgot something.
It's my understanding literature copyrights last for 97 years (guess they picked that number out of a hat). Hence the crazy books like Pride and Prejudice and Zombies as soon as the copyright expired. The author has to will the copyright to someone or the copyright reverts to the publisher. So Amazon may end up owning millions of books that were published through their CreateSpace or Kindle because those authors didn't know about that little tidbit. |
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This will be long. Sorry, but this is something I do know a lot about as I am a professionally published writer and own and run a small press. I also have a lot of full-time published writer friends, part of several professional writing organizations, personally know an intellectual property lawyer, go to workshops and conventions for writers, and so on.
So, here we go.
Copyright length depends on the country. Which is why a work can be in the public domain in another country, but not in another. In the US it is life of the creator plus 70 years (If the work was a "work for hire", then copyright persists for 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever is shorter.). In the US, when a work is created, the creator automatically owns the intellectual property. They don't have to do anything, or register it anywhere for this to apply. Once that 70 years after death the work enters the public domain automatically (with few exceptions).
As for who owns it after death, it is automatically a part of the creator's estate. There is a legal issue working its way through the court systems right now on how to value intellectual property for the purpose of death taxes, matters of probate, and how it relates to the distribution of assets to any heirs. As a published author I and many of my published friends are watching this. It could be a mess, or there could be precedents to make it simple. It's just too early to know yet.
Unless there is a contract in place with a publisher including a clause that tries to claim a part of the copyright, then the publisher has no right to the copyright during the creator's lifetime or after. This is a problem right now, including with agents, as the big corporations and individuals who are business savvy know the financial benefit of having the value of intellectual property listed on the accounting bottom line. If you are ever offered a publishing contract, or an agent/agency contract, then have a book publishing specific intellectual property lawyer check out the contracts before signing! If you need a recommendation, let me know.
But, basically, the copyright is in fact handed down to the creator's heirs.
Createspace (which is now going away, as it has been merged with KDP Amazon) and Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and other book distributors and sellers, do not own a part of the copyright. Nothing automatically goes to them. There are several TOS terms with those companies that are clear on this. Unless one signs a bad contract clause with the publishing entity that is a part of Amazon (and they have several imprints now), they will never come to own a book. Instead, they will have to continue to pay royalties on sales, but who those royalties go to depends on the terms of the Will of the creator.
NOW, there is the something known as 'filing off the serial numbers' of fanfic and publishing. This happens all the time. In fact, I know of a professional writer who has written a ton of media tie-in novels who is about to get a bunch of them back because of a neat little clause in the US copyright law that a creator can apply to get rights back 35 years after first publication if they jump through the right hoops. A bunch of artists, musicians, writers, and other creative types are currently using this legal clause to do just that, as this law allows those who were given dreadful contracts a way to get out of them. The author I'm speaking of plans to 'file off the serial numbers' (which include Star Trek, Star Wars, Men in Black, and others) and then publish the results.
It really is happening.
And yes, I have a new original series inspired by Battle of the Planets where I'm doing that. It has a lot of details from my other original series, such as Salmon Run and The String Weavers, which will give it a lot of original elements, but yeah. So inspired by G-Force. If you know the details of how copyright law works in your country you can do it.
And I am, and wow, has it got me all fired up on the writing. Did 9000 words on it just last week. (Which also got me fired up on the fanfic, too, after years away from it. In which I'm bringing this inspired-by world in, plus the other series I mentioned. Because, um, the characters told me to. Yeah, that's the ticket.)
I could go on and on about this, but I'll stop for now.
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Julieann
Gatchaman Fanfic Archive
J.A. Marlow - Science Fiction Author
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27-03-2019 06:13
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Julieann
Newbie
I am an Eagle.
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-09-2010
Posts: 43
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Sorry for the confusion on that last part.
I have several series already published. They are not inspired by the fandom and they are not fanfic.
I'm working on a new series now that IS based on the BotP fandom/fanfic, my BotP fanfic AU ideas, mixed with original elements from some of my published (and unpublished) series thrown in. But the core group of people have a few familiar traits along with familiar overall elements from the fandom/fanfic.
Unlike some have claimed, you do not have to change fanfic so much that someone from the fandom would NOT recognize it. Seriously. You don't have to go that far. And I can give an example if you want on what I mean, using another franchise that is different than the one I mention below.
Copyright does NOT protect ideas. It protects the specific expression of that specific idea that have been fixed in a tangible medium. Ideas are fair game for everyone to express in their own words.
Which means you can have a story about a tragically orphaned kid who is somehow special who ends up going to a wizarding school without infringing on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. Books with that premise were published before her, and after her.
There is nothing new under the sun. So many works are derived from ideas sparked from what has come before (the old myths and legends. Greek/Roman mythology. Shakespeare, and so on have been used for inspiration for hundreds of years). For those of us inspired by the fandom/fanfic, it is the same. The show is a tangible medium that is fixed. Using the exact unique names of people and places? Unless you are talking about a place name like New York or something like that, then you can't do that. Doing an episode plot-point to plot-point? Probably not, not without a bunch of changes.
The ideas behind it? Going our own way with it? That is fair game.
(If you want, we can discuss specifics. Winging this at the moment as I'm in the middle of packing for Anaheim.)
quote: | Will you be publishing it vice it being a fanfic? |
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I'm not sure what word "vice" was supposed to be, so I'm not sure how to answer.
Hope that helps!
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Julieann
Gatchaman Fanfic Archive
J.A. Marlow - Science Fiction Author
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28-03-2019 08:46
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Julieann
Newbie
I am an Eagle.
0 fics uploaded
Registration Date: 03-09-2010
Posts: 43
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Oh, nice to hear about your book and publishing it! Congrats! What is your publishing name?
I WAS prolific, before life exploded. I'm working hard to get back into it. I'm addicted to writing and storytelling, and it's felt horrible that I haven't been able to do is as much as I want. Part of the issue is that I have had to rebuild my ability to focus. The grief from Mother Hen passing was so bad that I could hardly read a book. The brain just couldn't focus that much. I'm doing Camp Nano this April to help me with that. I have writing to do!
Back to the other question, hehe, complicated. I have the original series I'm writing on that is very much inspired by BotP, and yes, that series will be published to the big wide world in both ebooks and print books. But I have one character from this new series (possibly more than that) that will also appear in some BotP fanfic I'm working on. So, in essence, I'm doing fanfic crossovers with my own work!
And it's been a blast.
So, in the works is the original series AND a fanfic series. Both are being written at the same time, as my creative brain keeps bouncing back and forth between them.
Some of the Arcadia Paradox crew will be making an appearance in yet ANOTHER series that I hope to write in the next few years, specifically Erica's team. Arcadia Paradox will remain up as fanfic. I will not be taking it down. There simply isn't any reason to do that. Most characters are original, and those that aren't will simply have some 'serial numbers filed off'. (So want to complete that series, but honestly, the original writing takes priority. From the planning I've done so far I figured out how to have some closure to the storyline when the other group of original main characters actually visit the Arcadia Space Station).
Yeah, complicated. But oh-so fun.
(And I'm now in Anaheim, all checked in, picked up my con badge, and now rarin to go meet other fans and just plain have fun at Wondercon!)
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Julieann
Gatchaman Fanfic Archive
J.A. Marlow - Science Fiction Author
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29-03-2019 01:05
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