1. Copyright and Fanfic
Sarah Worrel

2. What is fanfiction?
Fanfiction, otherwise referred to as fanfic, is the production of a work based on the creation of another author.
Examples: 50 Shades of Grey, derivative works based on Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings or C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia

3. Warner Brothers v. RDR Books
“Defendant created the Harry Potter Lexicon,” which “was so good that Rowling herself was said to have used it”
All was fine, until a potential book deal arose for an encyclopedia of the Lexicon

4. Warner Brothers v. RDR Books cont.
Did not qualify for fair use, because it was not considered transformative. “Rowling was planning her own encyclopedia, with which the Lexicon would compete for readers, thus having an effect on Rowling’s market for her product” (Kluft)

5. Suntrust vs. Houghton Mifflin
The estate of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind, brought a “copyright infringement action” against The Wind Done Gone.
Fair use, because it took the perspective of a minority to educate and rebut the assumptions about race made in Gone with the Wind
Scarlett Fever was a musical stage number based on Gone with the Wind. It added jokes and musical numbers, but it was not a rebuttal of the original work. The Mitchell Estate won that lawsuit (Kluft)

6. Marion Zimmer Bradley and fanfic
Writer of The Mists of Avalon
Originally, Bradley encouraged fanfic. In The Keeper’s Price, she says “who am I to slam gates and in churlish voice demand they build their own?” (Hines)
The Keeper’s Price was the first Darkover anthology (Hines)

7. Marion Zimmer Bradley and fanfic cont.
In 1993, in Writer’s Digest, Bradley allegedly said, “one of the fans [Lamb] wrote a story, using my world and my characters, that overlapped the setting I was using for my next Darkover novel. Since she had sent me a copy of her fanzine, and I had read it, my publisher will not publish my novel set in that time period, and I am now out several years’ work, as well as the cost of inconvenience of having a lawyer deal with this matter” (Hines)
October 30, 1989, Bradley had her first stroke (Wikipedia)

8. Marion Zimmer Bradley cont.
“This and future strokes left her with cognitive impairment for the rest of her life” (Wikipedia)
The question of ghost-writers is probably why Hines said “allegedly” about the Writer’s Digest” quotation

9. Marion Zimmer Bradley cont.
Jean Lamb wrote Masks, which was published
Bradley “wrote to Lamb sometime before September 1992, offering payment of $500 and acknowledgment in exchange for the use of Lamb’s material in Bradley’s work in progress”
Bradley wanted to use some of Lamb’s material in Contraband
Lamb wanted a byline for Contraband (Wikipedia)

10. Bradley vs. Lamb This is where it gets confusing
Lamb though Bradley was buying rights to all of Masks (Wikipedia)
Who pulled the plug on Contraband? DAW? Bradley? There are sources who say one and sources who say the other (Wikipedia)
Bradley said no more fanfic

11. The problem with fanfic?
“Bradley was an active participant in Darkover fanfiction, editing a fanzine and reading unlicensed, fan-written works” (Hines)
“Bradley tried to buy the rights to use a fan’s story” (Hines)

12. Works Cited
Hines, Jim. “Marion Zimmer Bradley vs. Fanfiction.” JimCHines. May 26,
Accessed 10 March
Kluft, David. “10 Copyright Cases Every Fanfiction Writer Should Know
About.” Trademark and Copyright Law. Foley Hoag LLP, Oct. 18, every-fan-fiction-writer-should-know-about/. Accessed 10 March 2017.
Wikipedia. Jan. 29, Accessed 10 March 2017.