A Fine Line
Nov. 16th, 2006 10:52 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerThere are times that my life as a fan and my life as a pro can clash. I started in science fiction fandom around the age of 13 when I attended my first Mini-Con. I still have the button you had to wear to get into the convention. From there I found out about the difference between a literary convention and a media convention. I found out about Art Shows, Masquerades, and Dealer's Rooms. I learned about fanzines and Apa(s) and other ways that fans would communicate. This was before the Internet kids so we're talking the 70s and early 80s.
Over the years I found myself moving from fan to pro through a series of happenstances that led to my employment at Del Rey Books when I, in the eyes of fandom, went pro. With that and learning the secret Pro handshake came a whole new set of things to think about including those lovely words intellectual property rights and copyright and fair use. Now I had dealt with these words before but it was during my theatrical career and it was connected to the plays I did and the music we used in the plays and the images we could and couldn't use. Copying someone's dance routine without paying for it is a no-no. I learned a lot of legal terms and definitions while I was at the Yale School of Drama. The Stage Managers took contract classes with the Admin students so we would be well versed in not only our contract but everyone else's too.
Marrying a writer and making friends with people in the entertainment industry gave me more insight into how hard it can be to hold onto something that you created but also how many ideas you can come up with that have already been done or are being done. Sometimes honestly it is two people thinking of the same thing at the same time especially when an event strikes the fancy of both. But there are other times that ideas are stolen and sometimes it can be easy to prove and other times close to impossible.
Fans appreciate their various forms of fandom in various ways. One of these ways is fan art which you will see a lot of at science fiction conventions Art Shows. Some are very good and some are not so great but their passion about their subject is evident. People make replicas of the props and costumes for sale. I'm not going to get into the video debate since that could turn into a history lesson and a rant. Fan films devoted to their favorite subject are all over the net and are shown at conventions. Some are documentaries and others are new "episodes" of the series. For the most part the handshake deal has been don't try to make money off of our copyright material and we won't come down on you like the 800 pound gorilla that we legally could do.
Now most owners of the original copyright turn a blind eye to these sorts of things but there are individuals who do go over the line and then the owners are vilified for cracking down on their fans. I recently helped the owners of a copyright get the evidence that they needed to shut down someone who was really profiting off of their work to the point that they were losing money. It is one thing to make something as a one off and sell it to another fan. It is another to set up a business based on the works of others without permission and when asked nicely to stop please inform the owner of the property that they can go screw themselves since the owners are making money so they should allow others to make money too. What this person didn't know is that their "fan" products were queering a movie deal for the owners since the movie studio wanted to make sure that all rights were free and clear and had a no compete clause in the contract. The studio saw these fans as a problem and made it clear that this was a deal breaker which meant the owner of the property had to become a hard a** about materials based on their works.
The thinking in fandom seems to be it is better to ask forgiveness than then ask for permission in the first place. And yeah that is the easier way to go about it but when asked to stop I think that should be enough rather than getting all incensed and get one's back up about the big meanie who won't let you make money off of their work anymore. Consider how much work that they had to put into the thing you love so much and how much they must love it too. That goes for big corporations too, they are not as heartless as one thinks they are.
I know the line is fuzzy but so far the owners have given the benefit of the doubt to the fans. Lets keep it so we don't lose this ability to show our appreciation for things we love with other fans for fun.
I am grateful for those contract classes since they have served me well over the years.
Over the years I found myself moving from fan to pro through a series of happenstances that led to my employment at Del Rey Books when I, in the eyes of fandom, went pro. With that and learning the secret Pro handshake came a whole new set of things to think about including those lovely words intellectual property rights and copyright and fair use. Now I had dealt with these words before but it was during my theatrical career and it was connected to the plays I did and the music we used in the plays and the images we could and couldn't use. Copying someone's dance routine without paying for it is a no-no. I learned a lot of legal terms and definitions while I was at the Yale School of Drama. The Stage Managers took contract classes with the Admin students so we would be well versed in not only our contract but everyone else's too.
Marrying a writer and making friends with people in the entertainment industry gave me more insight into how hard it can be to hold onto something that you created but also how many ideas you can come up with that have already been done or are being done. Sometimes honestly it is two people thinking of the same thing at the same time especially when an event strikes the fancy of both. But there are other times that ideas are stolen and sometimes it can be easy to prove and other times close to impossible.
Fans appreciate their various forms of fandom in various ways. One of these ways is fan art which you will see a lot of at science fiction conventions Art Shows. Some are very good and some are not so great but their passion about their subject is evident. People make replicas of the props and costumes for sale. I'm not going to get into the video debate since that could turn into a history lesson and a rant. Fan films devoted to their favorite subject are all over the net and are shown at conventions. Some are documentaries and others are new "episodes" of the series. For the most part the handshake deal has been don't try to make money off of our copyright material and we won't come down on you like the 800 pound gorilla that we legally could do.
Now most owners of the original copyright turn a blind eye to these sorts of things but there are individuals who do go over the line and then the owners are vilified for cracking down on their fans. I recently helped the owners of a copyright get the evidence that they needed to shut down someone who was really profiting off of their work to the point that they were losing money. It is one thing to make something as a one off and sell it to another fan. It is another to set up a business based on the works of others without permission and when asked nicely to stop please inform the owner of the property that they can go screw themselves since the owners are making money so they should allow others to make money too. What this person didn't know is that their "fan" products were queering a movie deal for the owners since the movie studio wanted to make sure that all rights were free and clear and had a no compete clause in the contract. The studio saw these fans as a problem and made it clear that this was a deal breaker which meant the owner of the property had to become a hard a** about materials based on their works.
The thinking in fandom seems to be it is better to ask forgiveness than then ask for permission in the first place. And yeah that is the easier way to go about it but when asked to stop I think that should be enough rather than getting all incensed and get one's back up about the big meanie who won't let you make money off of their work anymore. Consider how much work that they had to put into the thing you love so much and how much they must love it too. That goes for big corporations too, they are not as heartless as one thinks they are.
I know the line is fuzzy but so far the owners have given the benefit of the doubt to the fans. Lets keep it so we don't lose this ability to show our appreciation for things we love with other fans for fun.
I am grateful for those contract classes since they have served me well over the years.
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-16 04:24 pm (UTC)That's just sheer and absolute arrogance on so many levels. I sometimes think that fandom has an unfortunate tendency to get a little too swallowed up in itself to the point that people forget to breathe the nice fresh air of reality.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-16 11:51 pm (UTC)Knowing who you're talking about, though not knowing the details of this specific situation, I know of at least one case where this particular creator had actually given written permission for somebody to make and sell a specific fan product... and then took back that permission because of it queering the movie deal, and rather than explaining this and nicely asking the person who was making fan works to stop, they had their lawyers send threatening legal letters.
It's horribly arrogant for a fan to say, as you pointed out, that they have some right to make money, and I feel for any ceator who has to deal with that. But when one has been given permission to do so, it's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.
I suppose the person I'm thinking of could be lying, and didn't have permission after all, but then why would she lie when she did, actually, stop making her product the instant she got the cease and desist letter? A creator has a right to their own works, but that doesn't give them a right to go back on their word just because now it's queering their movie deal.
This particular creator is the only one I know of with an anti-fan club.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-17 02:08 am (UTC)I agree that there is a nice way to do things and a nasty way of things and the situation you are hinting at was not handled at all well.