fan fiction: sharing, creating, and the law. geekgirlcon panel

@kristinannk @ArtArtificeBlog @sarterus @durazzi

Kristin Ann King Rachel Buker Brian Rowe Allison Durazzi

Who We Are

www.theWLA.org @the_W_L_A

Kristin Ann King

blog:kristinking.wordpress.com

website:kristinking.org

email: booksbykristin@gmail.com

COPYRIGHT FUNDAMENTALS

Geek Girl Con 2014

Presented by Washington Lawyers for the Arts

COPYRIGHT FUNDAMENTALS

Geek Girl Con 2014

Presented by Washington Lawyers for the Arts

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?• Copyright

Federal law based in the U.S. Constitution 17. U.S.C. §§ 101-1332

Protects “original works of authorship” that are

fixed in a tangible form of expression

• Examples of Works Protected by Copyright Writings (including web copy) Photographs Software Code Drawings Music Compositions Music / Sound Recordings Film / Video Video Games

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

• Copyright – Bundle of Rights Rewards creators of original works with exclusive

right including: Right to Reproduce Right to Distribute Right to Publicly Perform Right to Create Derivative Works Right to Publicly Display Works

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

• “Unique Works of Authorship” Only minimal amount of creativity is required

Not the place of copyright law to judge artistic merit

If preexisting material is incorporated into a new

work, the copyright only covers the new work

Note - “New Work” may be considered a “Derivative” of the original

WHAT IS COPYRIGHT?

Ideas Facts Titles Recipes Useful Articles (most notably clothing)

WHAT IS NOT COVERED BY COPYRIGHT?

• Works in the Public Domain The Public Domain is comprised of works that are

unavailable for private ownership or are available

for public use because: The copyright is expired; The copyright has been abandoned or dedicated

to the public domain; Made by the U.S. government; Not protectable by copyright, ie. an idea or

concept

WHAT IS NOT COVERED BY COPYRIGHT?

• Works in the Public Domain Tools for determining whether a work may be in the

public domain https://copyright.cornell.edu/resources.publicdomain

.cfm

http://www.copyright.gov/records/

WHAT IS NOT COVERED BY COPYRIGHT?

Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp., 45 F.2d 119, 121 (2nd Cir. 1930)

“[Copyright] cannot be limited literally to the text, else a plagiarist would escape by immaterial variations.”

COPYRIGHT IN FICTIONAL WORKS

• Nichols v. Universal Pictures Corp., 45 F.2d 119, 121 (2nd Cir. 1930)

"The less developed the characters, the less they can be copyrighted; that is the penalty an author must bear for marking them too indistinctly."

COPYRIGHT IN FICTIONAL WORKS

• Note – Once a creative work becomes Public Domain, the characters within those works are No Longer Protected by copyright

• See, e.g., Klinger v. Conan Doyle Estate, Ltd., 755 F.3d 496, 111 U.S.P.Q.2d 1065 (7th Cir. 2014) (Petition for Cert. pending before U.S. Supreme Court)

COPYRIGHT IN FICTIONAL WORKS

Fair Use IntroGeek Girl Con

2014

Brian Rowe, Esquire @sarterus

The Rent is too Damn High!

Girls, Girls, Girls, do engineer!

<Background>

<Fair UseFree Speech Boot Camp>

Section 107

Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

§ 107 . Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include—

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.

PS Sorry for the BAD slide with too much text

§ 107 . Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use

The fair use of a copyrighted work, including criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright.

(1) purpose and character of the use,

(2) nature of the work;

(3)amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the work as a whole;

(4) effect of the use upon the potential market PS: This one is almost readable

§ 107 . Fair use

(1) Use

(2) Type

(3) How Much

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market

The Rent is too Damn High!

Good Faith Matters

The Rent is too Damn High!

Girls, Girls, Girls, do engineer!

V.

Fight for your right

to Transform!

Ask for Help

TheWLA.org

Credits:CC-BY Brian Rowe

Most images were used under my first amendment fair use right

Photo of Brian Rowe: Bipolar Images

Brian@BrianRowe.org

@sarterus

TheWLA.org

Credits:CC-BY Brian Rowe

Most images were used under my first amendment fair use right

Photo of Brian Rowe: Bipolar Images

Brian@BrianRowe.org

@sarterus

Materials available on our website www.theWLA.org

Resources Comic Book Legal defense fund cbldf.org

Stanford Copyright & Fair Use fairuse.stanford.edu

Columbia University fair use check list copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/fair-use/fair-use-checklist/

Americans Center for for Media and Social impact cmsimpact.org/fair-use

The Organization for Transformative Works (OTW) transformativeworks.org

Washington Lawyers for the Arts www.theWLA.org