- Forbes was one of many sites discussing YouTube’s crackdown on fans who use video game footage to review or discuss games. “So at the same time as two major console makers are integrating video sharing into their systems, YouTube is cracking down on the video game community. Of course, YouTube’s response to this is vague and unhelpful…Now a number of video game publishers such as Ubisoft, Paradox Interactive and Capcom have stated publicly that people should fight the copyright claims, understanding full well the win-win situation for all involved.”
- On another front, booksellers are censoring erotica writers. “Some U.K.-based ebook retailers responded with public apologies, and WHSmith went so far as to shut down its website altogether, releasing a statement saying that it would reopen ‘once all self-published eBooks have been removed and we are totally sure that there are no offending titles available.’ The response in the U.S. was somewhat more muted, but most of the retailers mentioned in the piece, including Amazon and Barnes & Noble, began quietly pulling hundreds of titles from their online shelves.” The reasons why were never stated. “‘I’d get an email from them saying, ‘We found the following books in violation of our content guidelines,’ she recalls. ‘But they wouldn’t tell me why. There were no specifics.'”
- If copyright or censorship fears weren’t enough, apparently the study of erotic fiction is being targeted by some government cost-cutters. “The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded $914,000 to help fund The Popular Romance Project since 2010, an ongoing study that explores ‘the fascinating, often contradictory origins and influences of popular romance as told in novels, films, comics, advice books, songs, and internet fan fiction.’…The grants are highlighted in the 2013 ‘Wastebook,’ an annual report …that highlights taxpayer-subsidized programs that…are questionable or unnecessary, especially during a time when lawmakers are viciously debating spending levels and how to trim the nation’s $17 trillion debt.”
- Meanwhile Slate‘s Future Tense blog looked at How Artificial Intelligence Might Monetize Fan Fiction. “A fan fiction writer e-publishes a story he wrote using the main characters, a vegan vampire who runs a butcher shop and a werewolf who turns into a plumber at full moon. His book sells millions of downloads, too. Did the fan fiction writer do anything prohibited by law? Not necessarily. As U.S. copyright law anticipates only human authors, it is reasonable to read it as providing no copyright protection to authors that are not human. The fan fiction writer can use the Super Potter Brothers characters as much as he wants; they’re in the public domain. Anyone can use them and make money from them, including the movie studios.”
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