Blog archives

Commercial transformative works can definitely be fair use and legitimate; however, this is outside of the OTW’s mission. Our focus is on defending non-commercial works and their creators. We want to support creators who share their fanworks freely as part of the fannish gift economy who are motivated to be part of a community, connected with other fans, celebrating the media they enjoy. This has always been and remains part of our mission statement. We are against the commercialization of fanworks without their authors’ consent.

If a plagiarized copy of your fanwork has been uploaded to AO3, please consult the Terms of Service FAQ for advice on what to do. If a copy of your work has been posted to another site, you will have to contact the other site yourself to request that they remove the unauthorized copy of your work. The OTW does not hold the copyright to your fanworks, so we cannot contact other sites or organizations on your behalf.

There is a definite distinction between plagiarism (the unacknowledged use of someone else’s words claimed as one’s own) and fanfiction (the acknowledged or obvious borrowing of story elements to tell a new story in the fanfiction writer’s words. By “obvious” we mean that even if a fanwork creator doesn’t include a disclaimer on their work, readers know that they did not invent Wonder Woman or Voldemort, or the phrase “Use the Force, Luke.” Plagiarism is deceitful and prevents the original author from receiving credit for their own original work. Fanfiction and quotation are important fair uses which acknowledge the original author and their work. The… Read more

Fair use is the right to make some use of copyrighted material without getting permission or paying for its use. It is a basic limit on copyright law that protects free expression. Fair use is a United States legal phrase; however, copyright laws worldwide have limits that keep copyright from being used as a form of private censorship. Fair use favors uses that: are non-commercial and not sold for a profit; are transformative, adding new meaning and messages to the original; are limited, not copying the entirety of the original; and do not substitute for the original work. None of these factors is absolutely necessary… Read more

Copyright is intended to protect the creator’s right to profit from her work for a period of time to encourage creative endeavor and the widespread sharing of knowledge. But this does not preclude the right of others to respond to the original work, either with critical commentary, parody, or, we believe, transformative works. In the United States, copyright is limited by the fair use doctrine. Campbell v. Acuff-Rose held that transformative uses receive special consideration in fair use analysis. For those interested in reading in-depth legal analysis, more information can be found on the Fanlore Legal Analysis page.