How I have rights to anything I post here on fanfiction and can sue anyone who copies them.
There has been many lawsuits between original copyright owners and derivative owners in many different ways for example:
Timothy Burton Anderson sued actor Stallone (Rocky) for the use of pieces from Anderson's unauthorized unsolicited treatment for Rocky IV
(Unauthorized: not given permission by film company MGM who created Rocky; unsolicited: the work was not asked for)
Anderson lost the lawsuit because the parts he claimed as his that were used in the film were transformed.
When someone writes something that uses 'elements' from a previously produced work, so long as those 'elements' are completely transformed (ex:The Fifty Shades of Gray Trilogy, the story and character personalities are completely different) the author or producer reserves (retains, secures, set apart for particular use, set back for future use) ALL RIGHTS to that work.
This means that just like E.L. James, I own the right to reserve my fanfictions for future use like publishing which I will and I do.
I, STARLING KNIGHT, RESERVE THE RIGHTS TO 'UNTOLD FAIRYTALES' AND 'THE BITTERSWEET' FOR FUTURE PUBLISHING PURPOSES
And that's not all: (this excerpt is from an article called 'Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors' by Stanford Copyright and Fair Use Center, I obviously don't own this excerpt or any part of the article.)
"The Transformative Factor: The Purpose and Character of Your Use
In a 1994 case, the Supreme Court emphasized this first factor as being a primary indicator of fair use. At issue is whether the material has been used to help create something new or merely copied verbatim into another work. When taking portions of copyrighted work, ask yourself the following questions:
Has the material you have taken from the original work been transformed by adding new expression or meaning?
Was value added to the original by creating new information, new aesthetics, new insights, and understandings?
In a parody, for example, the parodist transforms the original by holding it up to ridicule. At the same time, a work does not become a parody simply because the author models characters after those found in a famous work. For example, in a case involving the author J.D. Salinger, an author wrote a book in which a character known as Mr. C was allegedly modeled after the character of Holden Caulfield, from Salinger's Catcher in the Rye. After Salinger sued, the sequel's author claimed that his work was a parody, an argument rejected by the district court primarily because the work was not transformative. Aging the character and placing him in present day does not add something new, particularly since the character's personality remains intact as derived from the original work. (Salinger v. Colting, 641 F. Supp. 2d 250 (S.D. N.Y. 2009).)"
- See more at: .edu/overview/fair-use/four-factors/#the_transformative_factor_the_purpose_and_character_of_your_use
I have bolded that sentence because it suppots my case:
The characters I use from TWILIGHT do not retain the same personalities they have in the previously published novel TWILIGHT, and my original plot DOES indeed 'add something new' because it is a story that tells the ugly side of being a brand new royal which is completely made up by ME i.e. fake (Kate Middleton did not suffer this)
This another excerpt from the same article by Stanford:
"The scope of fair use is narrower for unpublished works because an author has the right to control the first public appearance of his or her expression."
My fanfics Untold Fairytales and The BitterSweet ARE unpublished works and in the case that anyone publishes these stories as their 'original work' I CAN and I WILL SUE.
As explained in the excerpt: I, STARLING KNIGHT HAVE "THE RIGHT TO CONTROL THE FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE" OF MY EXPRESSION.
On top of that:
There is an organization called Organization For Transformative Works (OTW) that I can turn to for help if legal action is needed. These are copy-and-paste's from their FAQ section on thier site:
"OTW was created to work toward a future in which all fannish works are recognized as legal and transformative, and accepted as legitimate creative activity.
Our mission is to be proactive and innovative in protecting and defending our work from commercial exploitation and legal challenge, and to preserve our fannish economy, values, and way of life by protecting and nurturing our fellow fans, our work, our commentary, our history, and our identity, while providing the broadest possible access to fannish activity for all fans. "
….
"Is the OTW trying to change the law?
No. While case law in this area is limited, we believe that current copyright law already supports our understanding of fanfiction as fair use. We seek to broaden knowledge of fan creators' rights and reduce the confusion and uncertainty on both fan and pro creators' sides about fair use as it applies to fanworks."
….
"The OTW's Legal committee is consulting with the Stanford Fair Use Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation."
…..
"The mission of the OTW is first and foremost to protect the fan creators who work purely for love and share their works for free within the fannish gift economy, who are looking to be part of a community and connect to other fans and to celebrate and to respond to the media works that they mission of the OTW is first and foremost to protect the fan creators who work purely for love and share their works for free within the fannish gift economy, who are looking to be part of a community and connect to other fans and to celebrate and to respond to the media works that they enjoy."
…...
"Will OTW's legal advocacy project be willing to help fans outside the US, such as fans from Germany where the copyright laws are different?
We are absolutely willing to help if we can find someone with the necessary legal knowledge. Fortunately, our friends at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are making a major effort to develop global legal expertise, and we plan to call on them in such situations. In any situation, US or non-US, we'll see what we can do based on the facts and our resources."
This means I DO have a way to fight for my fan fictions and I WILL.
….
"If fanfiction is legitimate, wouldn't that also mean that publishers or studios could produce derivative works without compensating the original authors?
No. Profit matters, and the degree of transformative quality matters: telling stories around a campfire, freely sharing nonprofit fanfiction, summarizing plot in a book review, or making a documentary film about fans is not the same as a major commercial derivative enterprise like making a major TV miniseries out of a novel."
By "original authors' the asker is referring to the fanfic authors. We ARE authors. I AM an author.
This means that if anyone publishes something derivative from my fanfictions or original work, that I publish here for promotional purposes of my writing career as a novelist, that are NOT transformed they cannot publish it due to the fact that I reserve all rights and have the right do it.
Here is the same sentence without my purposes breaking it in half:
"This means that if anyone publishes something derivative from my fanfictions or original work that are NOT transformed they cannot publish it due to the fact that I reserve all rights and have the right do it."
To recap:
I, STARLING KNIGHT, RESERVE THE RIGHTS (plural) TO ALL MY FANFICTIONS AND ANY ORIGINAL WORK THAT I POST HERE FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES (I will note it is an original work in the summary and first page of the story here on fan fiction along with this post so if you can see it, you can't take it)
articles used for this post:
are fan fiction and fan art legal?
Measuring Fair Use: The Four Factors
so fanfiction authors you ARE protected, we are not alone.
….…...
My name is Starling Knight, yes that is my name, and my pseudonym is MYSTERY READER (the original)
Actress Scarlett Johansson's maiden name is Scarlett Knight and her brother is Sterling Knight so it is not an 'impossible' name in case you don't take this seriously because of how fake my name sounds. No I am not their family member.