On 12/21/06, Gregory Maxwell gmaxwell@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/21/06, The Cunctator cunctator@gmail.com wrote:
The link therein referred to " various photographs of STAR TREK elements".
Whole different ball of wax.
"These rights are protected by numerous copyrights trademarks in both the programs themselves and the characters, sets, and other elements appearing in those programs."
It is common for rights holders to go after the authors of fanfiction/fanartwork with the argument that it is a derivative work. They are successful, although sometimes the courts decide the use is fair use (esp with respect to parody). For us, because we are not engaging in parody, our claim of fair use will be stronger if we use a photograph of the actual show.
{{citation needed}}. Most fanfiction/fanartwork is parody, but that doesn't mean that parody makes for a stronger claim of fair use.
In fact, if anything, I'd think that a work which infringes on a much smaller portion of the work (such as a caricature) would have a stronger claim of fair use than a work which infringes on a much larger portion of the work (a photograph of the actual show).
In any case, I wasn't claiming to like it or that I thought that we were in some great legal peril .. only that such complaints to happen. I went to google and typed in "fanfiction star trek infringing" and smacked I'm feeling lucky. I have no doubt that you can find no shortage of similar cases.
Have any of them actually been litigated? The whole point of "chilling effects" is that these are examples of threats of litigation which anyone with a real knowledge of the law knows would never hold up in court.
Anthony