Hero Wars
Issaries, Inc. |
Fan MaterialFan Policy Legal Terms for LaymenSince 1966, Greg Stafford has been writing about the fictional world of Glorantha - thousands of pages of material describing people, places and events. Various provisions of US and international law greatly restrict your ability to reproduce these writings and create fan material based on the intellectual property of Greg Stafford and Issaries, Inc. ("Issaries IP"). The Issaries, Inc. Fan Material Policy ("Fan Policy") establishes formal procedures by which fans can reproduce some of the Issaries IP and even create fan material based on the Issaries IP.For authors who look to their writings as being their primary source of income, protection of their copyright is often the only way to ensure the continuance of their livelihood. From a lawyer's perspective, the easiest and safest policy would be to prohibit any fan material or reproduction without a formal license.(1) As a result, many authors prohibit fan material based on their works.(2) Issaries does not take the same view! Instead, Issaries recognizes that fan material contributes to the richness of Glorantha as a literary world. As a result, the Fan Policy explicitly allows limited use of Issaries IP (see, Section 2B and Section 3A) without the need for additional formal approval. Issaries has established streamlined procedures to get a formal license for your personal website (see this checklist). The following is an explanation of some of the legal issues associated with the Fan Policy. The US Copyright Act and GloranthaThe US Copyright Act and the Berne Convention provide the legal context for much of the Fan Policy. Section 102 of the US Copyright Act states that "copyright protection subsists ... in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed, from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device."(3) The owner of the copyright is, in most instances, the author of the original work.Pursuant to Section 106 of the US Copyright Act, the creator of a copyrighted work has exclusive rights to do and to authorize any of the following:
(1) to reproduce the copyrighted work in copies; Thus under US law, if someone is to reproduce Issaries IP on their website or prepare derivative works based upon existing Issaries IP, they must have authorization from Issaries.(4) Under US law, the penalties for copyright infringement can be severe.(5) Derivative Works and Concept UseUnder US law, most fan materials constitute derivative works of existing Issaries IP. A "derivative work" is a work based upon one or more preexisting works, in which a work may be recast, transformed, or adapted. A work consisting of editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications, which, as a whole, represent an original work of authorship, is a "derivative work". A typical example of a derivative work is one that is primarily a new work but incorporates some previously published material.(6) Only the owner of copyright in a work has the right to prepare, or to authorize someone else to create, a new version of that work.Consistent with Issaries' liberal policy towards fan materials, the Fan Policy authorizes limited derivative work of Issaries IP without the need for a formal license (Section 2.C.). As part of this authorization, Issaries reserves the right to use "names, places, and concepts" from fan materials in future development and publications. For example, Issaries authorized the creation of the "Fall of the House of Malan," a fan material LARP, which introduced a number of names, places, and concepts that were later used by Issaries in the "Dragon Pass: A Gazetteer of Kerofinela" publication. It is important to remember that Issaries does not reserve for itself the right to actually use the text of the derivative work - only names, places and concepts. Thus if you post on your website a detailed description of the Orlmarthing clan, Issaries cannot copy or reproduce the text of your description. Issaries can, however, use the names, places and concepts from your description in future publications. Informal and Formal LicensesThe Fan Policy authorizes limited use of Issaries IP without needing a formal license from Issaries (the "Informal License" of Section 3.A.). The Fan Policy also states when a formal license will be necessary.If your website meets the test for an informal license (see this checklist), simply follow those procedures and you have a license from Issaries to make limited use of Issaries IP. If your website does not meet the test for an informal license, you need to request a formal license from Issaries. If you plan on publishing a fan periodical or other publication, you need to follow the licensing procedures in Section 3 of the Fan Policy. Issaries can license any use of Issaries IP that it feels appropriate. The goal is simply to make sure that your use of Issaries IP is done pursuant to a license. That way fans can use Issaries IP without violating the US Copyright Act. Footnotes(1) For an interesting overview of the legal issues associated with fan material, see, Michela Ecks, FAN FICTION, NOVELS, COPYRIGHT, AND ETHICS (2001).(2) For example, Orson Scott Card has stated that fan material "while flattering, is also an attack on my means of livelihood. It is also a poor substitute for the writers' inventing their own characters and situations." He has also promised legal action against those who post it. See, Seattle P-I, May 13, 2003. (3) The term "works" is a legal term of art and includes literary works (i.e., written text) and pictorial or graphic works (i.e., pictures or maps). (4) It is worth noting that the fair use of copyrighted work "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright." However, there are no fixed rules for fair use; copyright infringement involving fair use must be litigated on its own circumstances. (5) The owner of a copyright can always claim whatever damages he has actually sustained as a result of an infringement plus whatever profits were earned by the infringer from the unauthorized use of a work. In addition, if the copyright to a work which was infringed was registered with the Copyright Office either prior to the infringement or within 90 days after first publication, there are alternative damages that can be awarded. The owner of the copyright can elect to seek the greater of either his actual damages plus the profits earned by the infringer, or damages of up to $100,000 plus attorney's fees and court costs. The total damages that can be awarded by a court depends upon the degree of willfulness of the infringer. (6) For more information on what constitutes a "derivative work" check out US Copyright Office Information Circular 14. |
