Balticon 40.49 – Interview with Author Naomi Novik
Naomi Novik
Her three book Temeraire series is available in print:
Naomi talks about writing novels and fan fiction
Some of the legal issues surrounding fan fiction and other fan produced works
10 Things I Hate About Commandments video
PROMO: Brave Men Run by Matthew Wayne Selznick
Dealing with fan fiction from a legal standpoint
Creative Commons Licenses [ editor's note: CC licenses are up to 3.0 and have changed quite a bit since this was recorded ]
Naomi wants a new class of CC type license that would allow her to use ideas from Temeraire fan fiction in her commercial novels
Her goal is to protect the author and publisher from the story accidents when may occur when reading fan fiction
The 501st Legion
Star Wars Revelations kicks ass
The panning of Star Wars Episode 3
Art of the Saber – The best lightsaber duel ever! More info on The Force.Net
August 10th, 2007 at 8:49 am
Fascinating to hear Naomi Novik’s concerns about being sued for using her fans’ ideas. But I thought ‘ideas’ as such couldn’t be copyrighted.
If a fan wanted to sue an author for plagiarism, that fan would have to show that the _words_ and not just the ideas had been copied. But I am not a lawyer. How about interviewing someone who could give a definitive answer on this?
August 10th, 2007 at 10:31 am
I’ll contact an IP lawyer I know and as if he’ll comment.
August 15th, 2007 at 10:24 am
I spoke to Carry last night. She’s an IP/Copyright lawyer. Basically, She says that PaulJ is correct. That ideas can’t be copyrighted and that an author would have to slavishly copy a work in order to be open to a successful law suit. However, anyone can sue for anything, and that might be the crux of the matter.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot and really wondering about the source of the information. I have two theories on this:
1) Lawyers at various publishing firms have been telling authors that reading fan fic about their work, and interacting with fans could possibly open them up to law suits. While this is true, it is not likely. It is even less likely that the law suits would be successful. But if they occur, they would still be a loss of time, energy, and money for the author and the publisher.
2) There is dogma in the industry that is passed between the various employees of publishing houses, agents, and authors. The idea that something could happen to an author if they interact with fans or fan fic authors permeates the culture. And although there is very little likelihood of it happening, maybe even less than getting hit by a bus while crossing the street, the authors are convinced by the dogma that they should not step off this curb.
I liken number 2 to The Monkey Experiment. No one really knows why they tell others not to do something, they heard it and believed it. I think maybe it’s time for the dogma to end and for people to do real risk evaluation on this.
My advice, if you really want to interact with your fans and read their fan fic, talk to a copyright lawyer. Find out how many law suits of this type have ever been filed, what it would cost to fight one if some jerk did file one, and what the possible legal outcome would be.
I see no fault in being risk averse. But it seems to me as though some people are risk averse for the sake of the thing. Risk assessment requires some time and some thought. In this case, the upside is a tighter bond with your fans. Only you can decide if it’s worth it to you.
Also listen to this Conestoga Podcast and read my comments in the article for another example of how some authors seem to not really understand the issues around copyright.
-Paul Fischer
August 15th, 2007 at 11:17 am
FROM: Carry The Lawyer
Paul:
As I guessed, there are a few resources on the subject. The one I recommend is the FAQ by http://www.chillingeffects.org. It’s a great little primer, outlines much of what we talked about last night (but doesn’t include the Gone with the Wind ref I discussed), and includes a little more on the trademark angle.
http://www.chillingeffects.org/fanfic/faq.cgi
A thing I wanted to mention: Slavish copying was a bit of a misstatement — its better to say, copying of a character that is uniquely original to the story ( e.g., Spock from Star Trek, Harry Potter). Note: There is no protection for “stock” characters (the gay best friend, or the girl next door), even if you slavishly copy them. These are the characters I discussed as ‘archetypes.’
August 18th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Thanks for investigating this. It seems that the dangers may be exaggerated, but that publishers are unwilling to be called to defend their authors in the event of a claim (naturally so). The FAQ at Chilling Effects is indeed useful but was presumably written before the development of Creative Commons.
FanFic would appear to be the ideal application for Creative Commons licensing, though publishers are hardly likely to take CC on board given their leary attitude to anything that might necessitate a lawsuit, especially as CC hasn’t been sufficiently tested in court.