I saw the NASTY new copyright stuff on the ZZstudios site.
ZZstudios Copyright
AND:
That banner up on the Chris Foxx site about copyright law.
Sabrina the Story
Kind of looks like a plot to get rid of Identity Crisis.
No, I'm not trying to shut anybody down. I make it quite clear what I expect of people who want to use my characters. However, the law states that if one does not explicitly disallow something, then it's okay to do it. I'm just making my position clear on such matters.
I take copyright very seriously, as should anybody that wishes to create material, and especially if they place it on the internet. U.S. law states that I must be vigilant and protect my copyrights or I risk losing them. Like most people, I want to protect what I create to the utmost of my ability.
My writing information page has been up since early this year (February or March) and predates IC by a great deal. I have recently clarified some things which were ambiguous before but as a whole, the terms I have set out are not onerous. I follow them myself in my works so it is not unreasonable to expect others to show me the same courtesy.
Copyright law is a serious matter and I give it the consideration it requires.
So what do you think of this new Eric Schwartz comics based fan fiction?
Do you like it?
As a person who has had copyrighted material (my doctoral dissertation) lifted and used without my consent, I can speak firsthand about what it is like to have people using your works without permission. It is not fun, especially when they are using it in a negative manner.
Both James and Chris basically say anyone can use their characters PROVIDING they first get written permission AND you do not use them in a manner that would degrade their works. Follow the links and read the copyright information in full if you don't believe me.
I for one do not think that is a major problem to most writers and artists. Would you like someone to use Identity Crisis characters shabbily? Maybe draw derogatory artwork involving them? By enforcing a copyright a writer/artist can protect themselves from the types of things that destroy the value of their works.
And if you think either James or Chris is bad, try Disney. I own stock in the company, but they go to extremes such as getting copyright law changed so Mickey Mouse does not become public domain and forcing day care centers to remove murals with Disney characters. Try using Mickey or Donald in Identity Crisis and see how long the site is up. I predict less than 24 hours after Disney finds out about it.
I don’t believe that James or Chris are looking to shut down IC.
I got permission from both of them before writing the story. As for the notice on Chris’s board about copyright law, that’s in reference to a friend of his. I called in some debts with a copyright lawyer this week and got him a definitive answer to her problem.
I’ve told both James and Chris that if they have any objection to how I’m writing their character, let me know and I’ll change or remove it. James will attest to the fact that I pestered him repeatedly about how his character would react in a situation just to be sure that I tried to stay true to his character.
Now I’ve heard from third party sources that James doesn’t like my portrayal of his character, or the violence that was in the story, and I can understand that. That’s probably why he changed his copyright section. If he had spoken with me directly about his concerns, I would probably have written the entire story quite differently. However that didn’t happen. I hold no animosity towards him and still greatly respect him as a writer. The fact that I’ve got him listed on my hot-links page should be testimony to that effect.
The only person I haven’t been able to get a read from so far is Eric. When I talked to him at MFM2K, he indicated that he’d seen my E-Mails, but hadn’t had time to check the story. If he were to write me today and tell me not to use Sheila or Sabrina, I’d yank the story in a heartbeat. I can only hope he doesn’t do that. If that happened, I’d just scratch the entire story rather than try to re-write it. The only other character I’d see Arden falling for is ZZ and I wouldn’t want to write a competing ZZ story with James.
As for Act II and Act III, I’m talking to both the authors of the worlds that the story will take place. Michael Stackpole is checking with his publisher and that’s the delay with Act II currently. Jack Chalker has given me his blessing and encouragement with the understanding (of course) that I not make any significant changes or impact on his world.
Now I can hear you say “But you’re story makes a major impact.” In theory that would be correct assuming that James or Chris ever acknowledged my work in their stories. That will never happen. I can’t comment further without revealing major plot points.
In summary, I’ll repeat that I don’t think ERF is trying to shut me down. They could simply do that by E-Mailing me and saying “Make it go away.”
Keith/Hikaru
Now I’ve heard from third party sources that James doesn’t like my portrayal of his character, or the violence that was in the story
For the record: I have never said that I do not like your portrayal of my character. I have never said anything about any violence in your story.
When last we spoke, I encouraged you to explore my character in your own way provided it stays within the guidelines I have set out. I still hold to that advice. I cannot and will not try to force you to copy my characters exactly as I have written them.
As for any violence in your story, that is something of which I am not aware as I have only skimmed the chapters up to number 12 and nothing jumped out at me as being excessively violent in any way.
Unless you hear it directly from me, you may consider anything else pure hearsay and damned rumor-mongering. If I have anything to say about your works, either positive or negative, as regards my characters, rest assured that I, personally, will let you know about it.
That’s probably why he changed his copyright section
Again, let me reiterate: The copyright section of my website existed before any derivative stories were created. I did clarify my copyright section recently after researching copyrights at the Copyright Office of the Library of Congress (partly in response to what happened to Kittiara). I have nothing on my website that copyright law (U.S. and International) does not also state. As I said before, I follow these guidelines in my own use of copyrighted characters and I expect the same courtesy.
For the record: I have never said that I do not like your portrayal of my character. I have never said anything about any violence in your story.
When last we spoke, I encouraged you to explore my character in your own way provided it stays within the guidelines I have set out. I still hold to that advice. I cannot and will not try to force you to copy my characters exactly as I have written them.
Then I stand corrected. I'll have to get the nerf-bat out and open a can of whoopass.
As for the change, I hadn't noticed it. I made the mistake of presuming that it had changed.
Anyway.... To the best of my knowledge, ERF isn't tryng to shut me down so I wouldn't worry about it Zoro
I apologize if I hurt James Bruner's feelings.
If you look at those two things I referenced in the first message, and the lack of a link from ZZstudios, I think you can see where a suspicious mind might see a coincidence.
I DO have a suspicious mind.
Considering how suing over copyright seems to be the main occupation of technology companies now days, I think you can see how changes to copyright statements can be as a prelude to an attack.
I personally prefer all of these fan fiction sites stay on the web.
Well, if you have a problem, Zorro, why not ask him?