When fanfic writers do bad things

[Thornbaby]

I heard this from a friend of a friend of a friend but its true. There's a fanfiction writer named Catherine Rain who is SELLING Suikoden fanfiction. STUPID!!!

See for yourself

http://www.lulu.com/content/1924823

[patapi]

Selling? For free?

I can't be the only one who sees a "Download" button on that page.

In retrospect, how should we respond to this? In Japan, isn't it an accepted practice to sell fan products based on copyrighted materials like "doujinshi", which are also sold at a price?

[McBones]

Well, you can download it to a computer or buy it in book form, so I think thats what the TC meant.

I don't know about in Japan but Im pretty sure thats illegal. Im not familiar with the law but unless the author bought the rights to create the story I think thats illegal.

Also, I came in to the topic expecting to be talking about fanfics that kill certain characters or have lame twists or something >_>

[mhatter106]

I had a completely different expectation going into this thread from reading the topic title.

But I agree this ain't cool. I guess people can start by clicking the "Report this" button on the page.

Edit: I reported it and chose copyright violation as reason, and at the end you can click the "I wish to be notified of the results of this investigation. I clicked that and they gave me a message sayign they would email me when results are known, but I have no idea how, because later I realized I never gave them an email address or a name or anything.

[Zeikcied]

I had a completely different expectation going into this thread from reading the topic title.

But I agree this ain't cool. I guess people can start by clicking the "Report this" button on the page.

Edit: I reported it and chose copyright violation as reason, and at the end you can click the "I wish to be notified of the results of this investigation. I clicked that and they gave me a message sayign they would email me when results are known, but I have no idea how, because later I realized I never gave them an email address or a name or anything.

I think you're overreacting.

If it is a violation, it's a matter for Konami to address. Not fans of the series. For all we know, Konami wouldn't care. This seems like a case of vigilante justice, in my opinion. And I don't like it.

Besides, I think if there is a version of it available for free, then it's covered by Fair Use.

[Kagiya]

Yeah I was totally expecting a flame about yaoi fanfic that are completely unrealistic considering the characters. In japan doujinshi are pretty much ignored by companies despite the fact there are stores that stay in business by purely selling them. But I suppose it helps keep fandom alive and people buying official fan products (models, etc). Some people make money by selling fanart as well.

[mhatter106]

Even if Konami doesn't care (whcih we don't know), Lulu.com might since theyre hosting it, and I'm not forcing them to take it down, I'm just bringing it to Lulu.com's attention so that they can decide if they're cool with it.

I think you're overreacting.

If it is a violation, it's a matter for Konami to address. Not fans of the series. For all we know, Konami wouldn't care. This seems like a case of vigilante justice, in my opinion. And I don't like it.

Besides, I think if there is a version of it available for free, then it's covered by Fair Use.

[Zeikcied]

Even if Konami doesn't care (whcih we don't know), Lulu.com might since theyre hosting it, and I'm not forcing them to take it down, I'm just bringing it to Lulu.com's attention so that they can decide if they're cool with it.

I think you're overreacting.

If it is a violation, it's a matter for Konami to address. Not fans of the series. For all we know, Konami wouldn't care. This seems like a case of vigilante justice, in my opinion. And I don't like it.

Besides, I think if there is a version of it available for free, then it's covered by Fair Use.

But it's the legal responsibility of the copyright owners to enforce their copyright.

I haven't checked their reporting form, but I would assume they have a text entry for you to explain why you're reporting it. They could very well just ignore it, once they figure out that it's not coming from Konami, but from a fan, who has no legal standing to have it checked out for copyright violations.

That report field is only there for owners of an IP to flag content that violates their copyright. Fans have no legal standing, and it's bound to be ignored.

Besides, I'm sure that the price of the printed version only covers the cost of making a book. Which that website can surely verify. If it is, then there is no profit being made, thus it remains covered by Fair Use. It's only illegal if the person is making any kind of profit off of someone else's property.

[mhatter106]

its' still up to them. im not forcing anything on them.

if you have ur shirt tucked into ur underwear, i dont have to say aything, but some ppl might appreciate it if they got let knwon about it and they didnt know. they can just as easily say "no its cool, i dont mind my shirt tucked in my underwear," and thats cool too.

doesnt mean theres any harm in telling them about it.

[Greywolf]

I am not defending what this person's done. I think theft of intellectual property is really, really bad. But in this particular case, I don't see what the fuss is about. J.K. Rowling's books got ripped off by some writer in China, (which is well known for having no protection for copyright,) but J.K. Rowling is not exactly living in the poorhouse because of it, and neither is her publisher. I'd say Konami is less threatened by a small-time fanfic writer than J.K. Rowling would be by people writing books in her series without her permission. The writer of the Wizard of Oz was similarly ripped off by a Soviet writer who wrote a 7 book series about the Wizard of Oz, including the original, attributing it to himself. While the Wizard of Oz is still a classic, I doubt anyone in the Western world knows about the imitator. I simply cannot see Konami's bottom line being drained by this person. Also, honestly, if this person was a truly good writer he or she would go through the proper channels and request permission to get stuff done. That'll further one's career in this field much more than this sort of thing. If you're writing in a fantasy world of another person's creation, I would personally say you're making yourself be taken much less seriously by dodging copyright laws.

[Belle]

Wow, mixed feelings here.

On the one hand, I hope Konami doesn't care because I also like to read and write (but never sell) fanfiction and would hate to have all of that stopped because some idiot can't understand the no-no in profiting off of someone else's work.

On the other...hmm...I dunno. I just don't think it's cool at all. It's one thing to borrow a concept, but an entirely different one to take the whole story and sell it as though it were your own (especially when it clearly isn't).

Oh, and according to Lulu.com, the author keeps 80% of the sale. So I think it's safe to say that, every time a paper copy is sold, the author is profiting.

http://www.lulu.com/en/about/firsttime.php

Sell
Set free your inner media mogul.

Lulu gives you all sorts of ways to sell your fabulous new creation to the whole wide world - you set your own price, we print and ship each item as it's ordered, and you collect 80% of the creator revenue on every sale.

[Zeikcied]

Wow, mixed feelings here.

On the one hand, I hope Konami doesn't care because I also like to read and write (but never sell) fanfiction and would hate to have all of that stopped because some idiot can't understand the no-no in profiting off of someone else's work.

On the other...hmm...I dunno. I just don't think it's cool at all. It's one thing to borrow a concept, but an entirely different one to take the whole story and sell it as though it were your own (especially when it clearly isn't).

Oh, and according to Lulu.com, the author keeps 80% of the sale. So I think it's safe to say that, every time a paper copy is sold, the author is profiting.

http://www.lulu.com/en/about/firsttime.php

Sell
Set free your inner media mogul.

Lulu gives you all sorts of ways to sell your fabulous new creation to the whole wide world - you set your own price, we print and ship each item as it's ordered, and you collect 80% of the creator revenue on every sale.

But, if you go to this page, you can see how they figure the price.

http://www.lulu.com/en/help/book_pricing

Now, in the first example, if you set the price to $5.00, the download is $5.00, you get $4, they get $1. The printed version takes the $5, and adds in the production costs.

Going by those examples, this author has obviously set the price of her book to Free. Therefore, the price of the printed version is only the cost of making the book. In other words, the author doesn't profit.

I think it's apparent that this author is well aware of the laws of Fair Use, and has chosen not to profit from this book, in order to stay legal.

EDIT: Just to prove the author doesn't profit, let's add up the production costs, as outlined in that book pricing guide.

It's $0.02 per page. Her book has 256 pages. That results in $5.12. The book pricing guide says there is a $4.53 charge, flat rate, for the various materials.

$5.12 (for pages) + $4.53 (materials) = $9.65, the exact cost of the printed book. As I stated, the price of the book is only the cost of making it. There is no money left over to go to the author.

[Belle]

Hehehehe. I see. Pretty sneaky.