Forum: Author Hangout

I would also suggest calling out the original story and author in an Author's Note, if he knows it. Maybe bring some traffic to the original one (again, if it's still available).

That reminds me of 'Spirals' by Lellan McLemore and 'A Good Man' by Marc Nobbs.

AJ

I would, if I knew the title and author, but I read it about 20 years ago. That's a lot of water under the bridge, or SOL stories read, so I have no idea. I do remember it was a very short story, unlike her usual ones. All I remember about her is that she was a well-known erotic writer, both on SOL and some other sites. I remember sending her a note telling her how much I liked it, and that was the beginning of communications between us that lasted a few months. I think she might have been the one who invited me to be part of the "Erotic Pen" group. I think I heard that she lived somewhere in the Northwest(?), and died of cancer or something not long after that. If any of that rings a bell with any of you oldtimers, let me know.

nd died of cancer

rache? (Rachel Ross)

OMG, I think that's it! Tks.

That said, it's common courtesy to include an acknowledgement somewhere

Thanks for the reminder. I'd forgotten to do that with Protective Coloration. I didn't realize at first that I'd borrowed the idea of the first scene from No One's Ice and Fire, but as soon as I reread her story it was obvious they were similar, and I remembered thinking how great the scene with Riley's father was...

I changed the forward to acknowledge it.

It's only plagiarism if you steal the actual words. If you take the ideas and dress them up differently, it's not a true violation.

And that is a key point.

I admit, in one of my stories "Annie", I took some inspiration from a story I think I read on alt.sex.stories over two decades ago. But the only concepts I took were the fact that a guy had an affair, and something he discovered afterwards. Everything else in the story was completely original.

t's only plagiarism if you steal the actual words. If you take the ideas and dress them up differently, it's not a true violation.

I would disagree. Plagiarism also applies to an author's ownership of the setting and characters.

Even though many story lines (like the Harry Potter series) are commonly plagiarized it is a losing battle for the original author to defend their copyright in court.

Not really. Using somebody else's characters (e.g. Harry Potter) in your work without permission in Copyright Infringement.

This is actually a bit more complex than that.

Then you get into the issue of satire and parody. Where permission is not even required at all, but any royalties received from such works must be split with the owner.

But this area can be rather complex. Most times when people do such works (Harvard Lampoon jumps immediately to mind), they make just enough changes to make it clear it is a parody.

And there have been legal action taken when the derivative work is changed into something outside the scope of the original. JKR herself has largely kept quiet when it comes to fan fiction or parody, but has had her legal team get involved if the works were pornographic.

Could somebody still publish a pornographic Harry Potter? More than likely, legally they can. But in the end is the time and money that is going to be tied up in court worth it? Especially considering that most likely half of any money made in sales is going to go to JKR. Odds are that such a book would actually lose the publishers money in the end.

You cannot copyright ideas. So anyone can write a story about a boy wizard going to a wizard school. But the moment they use a name from the original work, you've violated the copyright.

But the moment they use a name from the original work, you've violated the copyright.

True for iconic names, but you can generally use a name for your character, even if it matches a minor character from another author's novel.

So long as your character is otherwise original and not substantially similar to the existing one, there isn't an issue.

If there were, we'd have run out of names aeons ago, and 'John Smith' could only ever have appeared in a single novel, despite having been for much of Anglo-American history one of the most common names (if not the most common).

My understanding as far as names and copyright go, what matters is not how important the character is in the story, but how distinctive the name is.

That is what 'iconic names' means.

You appear to be purposefully misunderstanding what I wrote.

It doesn't matter how distinctive a name or how minor a character is. You could name your MC "Harry Potter" or "Jason Bourne" and if they are accountants, salesmen or or anything other than wizard and spy you are OK.

Likely incorrect.

'Harry Potter' is trademarked in multiple domains, including printed matter and books.

Holding a trademark means you MUST defend it or lose it. If you name your MC 'Harry Potter', there is a very good chance you'll be sued for trademark violation (or at least receive a cease and desist letter).

If it's a minor character, "The firm's accountant, Harry Potter, provided the financial details", you're probably OK (but not guaranteed).

You absolutely could not use it in the book's title, nor could you call your story 'A spellbinding tale of numbers' if your HP character is prominent.

"The Audit" where the MC is namwd Harry Potter would be OK if maguc other than finding fake deductions would be.

Maybe. You'd be risking a very expensive fight to prove that point, as trademark defense has to be very aggressive. And if a judge/jury decided you were, in fact, trading on the name, you would lose.

It doesn't matter how distinctive a name or how minor a character is. You could name your MC "Harry Potter" or "Jason Bourne" and if they are accountants, salesmen or or anything other than wizard and spy you are OK.

Hell, back in 1984 a book was published called "The Legend of Rah and the Muggles", and the main character was Larry Potter. And a sequel called "Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly".

So long as your character is otherwise original and not substantially similar to the existing one, there isn't an issue.

And if Dan Brown is the author, taking exact, unusual names from another author's work is not an issue either.

AJ

Harry Potter was taken from a movie called Troll

That makes the situation murky. If Troll contains a boy wizard named Harry Potter, then the film's authors own the copyright on that name (although with minimal chance of enforcing it). But 'Harry Potter' has been trademarked for JKR's character. As an author, I'd like to see copyright have supremacy.

AJ