Bill S.978: What Could It Mean for Fan-Fiction? - Comments

and this is why i will adamantly oppose this, and urge everyone in the world to do so. this is also a huge issue on tumblr, so i'm pretty sure that we have the support of all the users on tumblr.

I think the problem has more to do with people making money off of other people’s creations. I think drawing/writing fanfiction for fun and enjoyment are perfectly fine. As soon as the person tries to sell the piece it becomes a problem. But as so many of you said, you write fanfiction as a brain exercise and to clear your minds. I do the same things. In fact I have more fanfiction up than originals. But the originals are obviously my main focus. And where my fanfictions reach an average of 25 chapters. My originals can go passed 200. Besides I highly doubt these creators/musicians/writers/whatever would really spend the time to search through Mibba to file a lawsuit against a bunch of well-meaning kids. Even trolls generally have better things to do.

If this were to happen I would probably have to die.

I mean, there's certain fanfics I won't read. Like Waycest or Frerards. *shudders*. But there's some that are very sweet, and anyWay, as far as I see it, I use fanfiction as a brain exercise. When I can't come up with anything original, I write a Killjoy fic.

And as an artist/musician, this would kill me. I love doing covers of songs, drawing fan art.

Let's just say this is not a bill I want to see passed.

To be honest with you, this whole thing would be pointless and it will not be passed because people have been writing fanfiction for years and they could have put a stop to it before. So my thing is, why worry about it now? There is nothing wrong with wrting fanfiction for your own amusement and its not hurting anyone.

Also, it would be REALLY stupid to sit there and try to ask the author or director could you write a fanfiction with their characters in it. I don't even think they would care. If they did, people hell AMERICA would be sued, but they aren't. So why sit here and worry about a bill that it not going to be passed or looked at? There are alot of things going on in this world and worrying about writing fanfiction ain't one of them.

Really?! I wouldn't really have anything to do anymore! D: I'm sure it wont happen, it's too much of a big economic thing, because Youtube (and other websites) make alot of money and it would make a ripple-effect, where people would start losing money.

well they can just go suck a huge....
.....
that's so dumb. if every fan fiction writer were arrested for writing fan fiction without asking permission...like 9/10ths of the word would be behind bars seeing as most of the world is either kids or teens or young adults (well i dont know about that). how ridonculous. i will not accept this. its silly. the government is always trying to squeeze money out of people.

I can understand the intent with so many of the kids in high school and college nearly copying and pasting their essays, but even so I doubt they wouldn't let fan-fics be posted. Imagine the insanity! At least I hope not.

Some say that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, and fan-fiction is no different than this. I highly doubt that the government will allow this bill to pass. Saying you 'can't ' write something is against the constitution as freedom of speech and of the press. The reason in which we continue to write fan-fiction is because the only way it would be illegal to us is to make money off of our works by claiming the ideas as our own. Which even then, I personally as a fan-fiction lover and writer could not see any of the authors doing - taking credit for the work that they hold so dearly.

Oh darn... I would have to take down my Thundercats fanfiction. :/ I'm glad you clarified this rumor on the bill because if I remember correctly, sometime last month a few people had wrote in the journal sectio about this bill, but I kinda still don't see the proof of this bill though. I mean it's a scary thought because I've written countless fanfiction over the years and I definitely don't wanna stop writing them since Fanfiction helps me practice my writing skills.

I think you need to specify where this Bill would come from and into action. I have a funny feeling it's American, and therefore your example of J.K Rowling wouldn't be valid...because the British Government isn't necessarily going to copy what other governments are doing. Also, it would only really work if you were in that country right? Like, if I were to write something based on a song....and it was illegal in America, then that wouldn't phase me in the slightest because my government has no connection at all to the American government. :/

I think a little more research would have worked well in this case, and if you didn't kind of contradict your argument at the end when you mentioned that bills have already been passed that does make it a little illegal to write about people. I mean, if they exist, then why should this one be a bother? Just from those last paragraphs, it seemed like you were content with the other bills, but this one...not so much, even if they all serve the same purpose.

But like you said, if it were to happen, and somehow effect the whole entire world (which I highly doubt), then it would ruin sites that are predominantly based on fan things. That being said though, how do you draw a line between interpretation, rather than transformation?

Aww this suck! I enjoy reading fanfic from other peoples i think that law sound pretty useless i mean every second someone from around the world is posting some random fanfic so we can enjoy about their creative story in diffrent genre like lemon, uke etc...

Calm down people, the bill will not do anything about fan-fiction writing unless you're trying to sell it. No author is going to track you down because you wrote a story about their characters. Not to mention, I'm sure far too many people write fan fiction for the government to do anything about it.

I heard that this bill is trying to stop pirating music and fan fiction, fan art, and singing songs are protected under Fair Use laws as long as there's no profit. However, I cannot trust the government anymore since first hearing about this and Protect IP. Plus, YouTube is already taking down some videos that "violate" the current law such as literal music videos (that count as parodies under Fair Use) and even behind the scenes videos posted by the artists themselves!

perhaps if something like it is passed, maybe specific writers can give OK for certain sites? LIke you can write fanfiction using JK Rowling character but if it's found anywhere but mibb or some writing site it won't be legal? If only they would do that..

No way!!! They can't do this because this is destroying our rights to be creative and spreading excellent ideas...Life would be SO boring w/out fanfictions because there would no longer be those little thngs called the 'what ifs'. I agree with the author of this article; it is unrealistic that the people who created the music,movies,etc will actually give permission.This is complete b***s****!!!!

does this mean that people outside of the US could get away with publishing fanfiction online or does it affect US based websites...? because I'm from the UK and even though I started writing fanfiction when I was eleven, it's not a massive deal to me any more and I'm cool with just deleting it either way... it's not as if I can actually make a living out of it and it might ruin my fun a little bit (writing wish-fulfillment stories for my friends and giggling at really terrible stories on here) but it's not as if when this bill has passed people are going to stop writing fanfiction, they'll just make it less public.

That bill is specifically meant for criminal infringement of a copyright where the cost of licenses exceeds $5000 or the economic value is more than $2500. It affects those who are selling their work, not those who are posting it because they can. It also affects performances, not drawings or writings. If there was an art show for fan-art that charged for the right to enter, that would fall under the heading of this bill. The existence of the art violates no law as long as no profit is made.

If someone were to charge for their fanfiction, that would be a violation as long as the profit made exceeds $2500.

Also, the only time laws are enforced are when someone is hurt - economically or physically - by an action and thus has a valid complaint. Fanfiction doesn't hurt economically or physically, because the ones who write it and read it are fans who have already bought the book/movie/video game and words cannot physically harm anyone.

Do you really think people are going to care about fanfic writers when they can go after the people making thousands of dollars selling fraudulent Harry Potter books (as happened in China) and putting bands on a poster to make it look like they endorse a product/will be at a show?