• bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml
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    11 months ago

    They plagiarized his fanfiction. Theoretically you would have rights to your stories even if they involve characters that you don’t have rights to.

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      US law is on the Estate’s side

      If the characters/events from LOTR are a big part of his fan fiction then the Estate can have it destroyed

      Also since the author had no legal ownership of the works, there is nothing wrong with the people who have rights to it using it

        • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          The if part is what gets argued in court

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformative_use

          transformation is a type of fair use that builds on a copyrighted work in a different manner or for a different purpose from the original

          Fifty Shades vs Twilight would be transformative

          Anderson v. Stallone

          Would be the most likely case reference for this ruling where Anderson made a Rocky sequel and it was deemed infringement

          • bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml
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            11 months ago

            Yeah wow it’s like I thought ( the right holder being able to dick around writers)

            It was strikingly clear to the Court that Anderson’s work was a derivative work; that under 17 U.S.C. section 106(2) derivative works are the exclusive privilege of the copyright holder (Stallone, in this case); and that since Anderson’s work is unauthorized, no part of it can be given protection.

            After he had meetings with MGM about using that script.