Public Domain and the battle of 2019

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

You failed to answer my questions.

"Protected" from what? How does fan fiction harm your work? Consider those rhetorical questions, because you're without an answer.

Because you are not entitled to MY stories. They are mine. Not yours.

Why do YOU feel the need to write stories with my works instead of creating your own?

 

[Superwoman Prime]

I'll let your infantile attitude speak for itself, Nell2ThaIzzay.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

You do realize that all of these copyrighted characters are themselves derivative of preexisting, public domain characters right? Culture is built on top of culture.

It is lunacy to think you can have a monopoly on an idea after you die. Quite frankly, you should be grateful if anyone gives a damn about your work after you die.

Are you familiar with the concept of giving something back?

That said, given some of the responses, I am apparently not nearly being condescending enough. What a sorry state our culture is in.

At this rate, our culture will be remembered not just for its derivativeness, but for its greed and selfishness.

You think any of the characters you guys love so much would be around in their current form if the creators of their predecessors behaved in this fashion?

Let's be honest, this discussion has nothing to do with "building culture" and everything to do with fans wanting to feel legitimized with their "versions" of Batman.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

I'll let your infantile attitude speak for itself, Nell2ThaIzzay.

No, my attitude isn't infantile. If anything, the infantile attitude is the one that feels they are entitled to creative access of someone elsrs intellectual property.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Let's be honest, this discussion has nothing to do with "building culture" and everything to do with fans wanting to feel legitimized with their "versions" of Batman.

I'm not reall a big Batman fan (and probably not one by this board's standards). Hence why it's probably my least visited part of the forum.

That said, this goes well beyond a few comic book characters.

 

[jmc]

No, my attitude isn't infantile. If anything, the infantile attitude is the one that feels they are entitled to creative access of someone elsrs intellectual property.

When said person is no longer with us what right does any particular person have to said stories? We can't un-invent the stories or characters, they become part of humanity's folk tale history.

Let's be honest, this discussion has nothing to do with "building culture" and everything to do with fans wanting to feel legitimized with their "versions" of Batman.

That sort of thing has been going on for centuries, people have taken stories from elsewhere and adapted them to their liking long before Batman existed.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

When said person is no longer with us what right does any particular person have to said stories? We can't un-invent the stories or characters, they become part of humanity's folk tale history.

The estate has more right to it than you do. Like was brought up earlier, when someone dies, their home and property don't become public domain. And neither should their creative works either.

That sort of thing has been going on for centuries, people have taken stories from elsewhere and adapted them to their liking long before Batman existed.

And you don't need Batman to be in the public domain to write a story influenced and inspired from Batman.

 

[BATZARRO WWD]

Let's be honest, this discussion has nothing to do with "building culture" and everything to do with fans wanting to feel legitimized with their "versions" of Batman.

Well, it would be nice if the constitutional right for works getting into the public domain wasn't getting bungled. But I yield and admit that I want my version of Batman where he's an alien from planet B'at to be legally profitable. Is this worst than retroactively stretching copyright durations until nothing becomes public domain for 20 years?

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Yes. Batman isn't your intellectual property and you have no right or entitlement to it.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

Theft is unethical because you're robbing another person the chance to use something that rightfully belongs to them.

The only way you can really "steal" an idea is by publishing it before the originator could. You receive the credit and royalties, even though they conceived the story.

If they're receiving credit and royalties for their own idea . . . you cannot steal it by writing fan fiction. It is still theirs. They may still use what is theirs.

If they're dead? Never mind. It's over. Belongs to everyone.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

Writing a novel that sells is hard, hard work. I believe writers should be rewarded for that thoroughly, hence copyright.

But that's as far as I can go with it.

Fan fiction may also be stylistic training wheels for future writers of new material.

George RR Martin himself, even though he's against fan fiction, started off his career by writing it. Comic fan fiction. And Beauty and the Beast.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Theft is unethical because you're robbing another person the chance to use something that rightfully belongs to them.

The only way you can really "steal" an idea is by publishing it before the originator could. You receive the credit and royalties, even though they conceived the story.

If they're receiving credit and royalties for their own idea . . . you cannot steal it by writing fan fiction. It is still theirs. They may still use what is theirs.

If they're dead? Never mind. It's over. Belongs to everyone.

No, it doesn't

 

[Superwoman Prime]

I'm embarrassed for you.

 

[BATZARRO WWD]

No, it doesn't

In most countries, it eventually does. In the others they don't have a word for copyright. In none of them does copyright last forever. Relevant reading. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain

 

[chaseter]

Why did the OP reference The Wiz as a call to arms?

 

[BATZARRO WWD]

So you're telling me that when Stan Lee dies, Spiderman, Hulk, X-Men, etc. should all become public domain??

Please.

If he was the actual owner of said IPs 70 something years after he died it becomes public domain. "arvel owns it, so since its a corporate ownership it's 95 years after first publishing. With most the characters we are concerned with here it's the latter case. You don't have to wait until Lee dies. Just what's left of their terms. It'll happen when we are old and gray and near death.

Why did the OP reference The Wiz as a call to arms?

I meant the Musical based on the wizard of oz, not the nintendo movie with Fred Savage.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Actually, if the original law was held up, they would have become public domain after 28 years. So, they would have become public domain over a decade ago.

The current laws are a mockery of the very idea of copyright. It was never intended to be perpetual, or even to outlive its creators.

 

[redhawk23]

Theft is unethical because you're robbing another person the chance to use something that rightfully belongs to them.

The only way you can really "steal" an idea is by publishing it before the originator could. You receive the credit and royalties, even though they conceived the story.

If they're receiving credit and royalties for their own idea . . . you cannot steal it by writing fan fiction. It is still theirs. They may still use what is theirs.

If they're dead? Never mind. It's over. Belongs to everyone.

There has been cases where people have intuited what direction a series long plotline was going and incorporated it into their fanfic and then have tried to sue, completely disrupting author's work. This is why George R.R. Martin is so openly hostile towards fanfic writers.

 

[redhawk23]

Writing a novel that sells is hard, hard work. I believe writers should be rewarded for that thoroughly, hence copyright.

But that's as far as I can go with it.

Fan fiction may also be stylistic training wheels for future writers of new material.

George RR Martin himself, even though he's against fan fiction, started off his career by writing it. Comic fan fiction. And Beauty and the Beast.

The "fanfic" he wrote wasn't the kind of "fanfic" that we have today. The fanfic magazines of the time were for amateur writers who would attempt similar things to what they were a fan of. A batman fanfic publication would feature detective stories in the like but they wouldn't actually be about Batman.

 

[redhawk23]

Protected from YOU or people like you.

If I create a work of fiction, it is not YOUR fiction to create with. It is mine. And I do not want you to have access to it to create your own stories with.

Question: Who protects Siegel and Shuster's work from Goyer and Snyder? How are Goyer and Snyder particularly different from Superfan92 on Fanfic.net?

 

[chaseter]

I meant the Musical based on the wizard of oz, not the nintendo movie with Fred Savage.

I know what you meant...it's a god awful movie. It makes me wish Oz was still IP. It was just a bad example for your case.

 

[Human Torch]

Theft is unethical because you're robbing another person the chance to use something that rightfully belongs to them.

The only way you can really "steal" an idea is by publishing it before the originator could. You receive the credit and royalties, even though they conceived the story.

If they're receiving credit and royalties for their own idea . . . you cannot steal it by writing fan fiction. It is still theirs. They may still use what is theirs.

If they're dead? Never mind. It's over. Belongs to everyone.

Any other kind of property gets left to someone.Intellectual property gets thrown to the dogs as soon as possible,so fan fic writers can feel legit.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

Kind of surprising you and Nelly aren't against public libraries. Or are you?

 

[Superwoman Prime]

There has been cases where people have intuited what direction a series long plotline was going and incorporated it into their fanfic and then have tried to sue, completely disrupting author's work. This is why George R.R. Martin is so openly hostile towards fanfic writers.

Examples, please.

The "fanfic" he wrote wasn't the kind of "fanfic" that we have today. The fanfic magazines of the time were for amateur writers who would attempt similar things to what they were a fan of. A batman fanfic publication would feature detective stories in the like but they wouldn't actually be about Batman.

Fair. Still, Beauty and the Beast.

 

[Nell2ThaIzzay]

Kind of surprising you and Nelly aren't against public libraries. Or are you?

Why would I be against public libraries? That has nothing to do with the public domain.

Which, I am also not against a public domain. I just don't think that a creator's death means it's fair game for every internet "writer" to have free reign at legitimized Batman fan fic.

Nor do I believe that artists are "entitled" to another artists' IP at any point in any way shape or form.