COVID-19 RESOURCES
LIT CAMS (200 Free Tokens)ADULT TOYSVOD MOVIES

finish story

E

execuwriter

Virgin
Joined
Jul 21, 2011
Posts
28
Would it be kosher to take a story in another direction if an author has not added anything to it in six years? I'm thinking about taking another author's story in a different direction but won't post it anywhere if the consensus is that it would be wrong.
 
Nope. It's not an author's responsibility to reaffirm their ownership of their intellectual property. It's up to you to obtain their permission or to just leave it alone.
 
Is it right as in ethically? I would say no.

Legally? There would be no consequences. If intellectual property is posted here for free you have left yourself open to someone continuing or rewriting it just as much as you have left yourself open for someone stealing it out right and posting it somewhere else.
 
Not completely, in legal terms, no. In the unlikely event it was formally copyrighted, it would be legally actionable. It's just that the damages wouldn't go beyond erasing it from wherever it was put, because it was assigned zero value by posting it here.
 
sr71plt said:
Not completely, in legal terms, no. In the unlikely event it was formally copyrighted, it would be legally actionable. It's just that the damages wouldn't go beyond erasing it from wherever it was put, because it was assigned zero value by posting it here.
Click to expand...

If it was formally copyrighted yes.

But my guess is the majority of works are not copyrighted here(and would further guess many think that "copyright" literotica thing actually covers them).

Even if they are the legality could only be enforced by spending a lot of money and waiting years for a hearing.

Like it has been noted over and over, when you post something here you're doing it at your won risk.

I will repeat that from a ethics POV I wouldn't do it unless the author said okay.
 
Guess you didn't understand the phrase "in the unlikely event."
 
sr71plt said:
Guess you didn't understand the phrase "in the unlikely event."
Click to expand...

I did, but further explained for the OP in case they haven't yet had the pleasure of watching the copyright debate go round and round yet.

The penalty of a fre site also extends to the other thread where the editor found the story up for pay and the author never paid him anything. Sucks to get used like that, but if you're giving anything away, it falls under tough noogies.(no that is not a legal term, but my daughter said it so much when she was younger I can't get it out of my head)
 
OK. If I come up with anything good, I will seek the author's permission to post it. But it would suck if the author ignored my request.
 
Unfortunately for your druthers, the world doesn't owe you not being disappointed that you aren't encouraged to intrude on the rights of others just because you want to.

Themes can't be "owned" nor can character types. Write your own story, using your own character names and similar, but not identical, story setups. You can think in your mind that this is an extension of a story you've read and get the enjoyment of thinking it as a spinout of that story but still avoid stepping on someone else's intellectual property without their explicit permission to do so. If it means so much to you that this is the extension of the same story, you could "find and replace" names just before you submitted it for posting.

You can easily work around this and still leave the original author alone.
 
4glory6 said:
You can't just write your own story inspired by this one?
Click to expand...

I agree with the above.

I've recently had another author take one of my stories and crap all over it. It wasn't nice. I knew the author was going to do it. I asked him not to and suggested that he change the names and locate it in a place he knew something about.

He refused to do either. I PM'd Laurel. Told her what was happening and asked her not to publish unless it was a different story.

I got no reply

The story was published I reported it as it contained some of my original text.

I got no response.

It would seem that as far as Lit is concerned you can do what the hell you please as long as everyone having sex in the story is over eighteen and the punctuation is OK.

Ethically, It is only polite to ask the original author's permission, tell them what you want to do and how you want to change things. If they say no or don't reply then write your own story acknowledging that it was inspired by the original.

If you are writing a follow up (continuation) of a story I still think contacting the original author is a good idea but as it is a different story there should be no other problems.
 
Last edited:
DeYaKen said:
I agree with the above.

I've recently had another author take one of my stories and crap all over it. It wasn't nice. I knew the author was going to do it. I asked him not to and suggested that he change the names and locate it in a place he knew something about.

He refused to do either. I PM'd Laurel. Told her what was happening and asked her not to publish unless it was a different story.

I got no reply

The story was published I reported it as it contained some of my original text.

I got no response.

It would seem that as far as Lit is concerned you can do what the hell you please as long as everyone having sex in the story is over eighteen and the punctuation is OK.

Ethically, It is only polite to ask the original author's permission, tell them what you want to do and how you want to change things. If they say no or don't reply then write your own story acknowledging that it was inspired by the original.

If you are writing a follow up (continuation) of a story I still think contacting the original author is a good idea but as it is a different story there should be no other problems.
Click to expand...

Sure this would be a sort of literotica fan fic. If you want to throw the author a bone and avoid flaming from his fans if they are still here, you say, based on the great story by.....
 
The question would be: does the writer care whether you plagiarize his/her work? Even if it is not formally copyrighted, proof of authorship is easy these days, if you are even aware someone is plagiarizing your work.

Plagiarism is plagiarism! Cover it with Chocolate or Shit, still plagiarism! Write your own shit!

Sometimes I might not mind having a re-write duel with another author, just for fun, but if you don't ask, it is wrong.
 
Write It

Just give the original author the credit he/she deserves. Then write your take on it. This is Lit, not some professional publishing house that some of the others think it is.
 
Luvtowriteerotica said:
Just give the original author the credit he/she deserves. Then write your take on it. This is Lit, not some professional publishing house that some of the others think it is.
Click to expand...

Can we take it that you would approve of something like

I read this story by XYZ called Extreme Detritus The guy can write a bit but the story was crap because XYZ writes for wimps. this is what he should have written.
You then go on to copy the story using XYZ's original text in places, but turn the hero into a mindless moron and give it the title Extrmely Detritus by Luvtowriteerotica.

Are you really saying that just because this is Literotica any writer should tolerate and accept it.
 
First of all, under the Basel Convention everything is automatically copyrighted (and that includes all these ramblings on this message board). In most jurisdictions you can not even abstain from your copyrights. The best you can do is release it "to the public domain", or a "Creative Commons Zero" license. Still, it carries your name, and your copyright.

When people here talk about "officially copyrighted" then this are probably US citizens who like to register (some of) their work with the US copyright registration office. This is not strictly necessary, it does make it a lot easier to defend your copyrights in case you get involved in legal action over a work of yours.

Copyright also works internationally. I'm not in the US (like many more people posting to this site), yet when I post to Literotica (which afaik is a US-hosted site), I'm protected by copyright. Whether I care enough to do something when someone copies my story, that's another matter.

Taking inspiration from other people's work is explicitly allowed. Everyone does so. Take a bit from this movie, from that book, from a song maybe, a photo you've seen, and mix and match and come up with a new story. That's how it's supposed to work.

Back to the original question, expanding someone else's work. If you write to the original author and they say "sure, go ahead", well, end of story.

Continuing a story, that means you're writing a new story. That shouldn't be a problem as such. You may need to change the setting a bit, different names if it's a fantasy land, that kind of things.

Using the original characters may be a problem. I think characters can be copyrighted, as protection of Mickey Mouse is the reason the US is expanding their copyright terms time and again (indeed, that's primarily to protect Mickey Mouse. The rest is just collateral damage). So here it gets a little tricky. Use a different name for the character and you may get away with it.

Rewriting an existing story may or may not be a problem, depending on how close you are to the original.
 
I am utterly perplexed at some of the responses you have received. It is ABSOLUTELY fine to continue a story in a different direction, just look at most the stories in the celebrities section!

Come on people, get a grip. It's called fan fiction, it is common and there is no ethical, moral or legal issue doing it.

Of course, plagiarism is still wrong. Be nice and acknowledge the inspiration.
 
i_would said:
First of all, under the Basel Convention everything is automatically copyrighted (and that includes all these ramblings on this message board). In most jurisdictions you can not even abstain from your copyrights. The best you can do is release it "to the public domain", or a "Creative Commons Zero" license. Still, it carries your name, and your copyright.

When people here talk about "officially copyrighted" then this are probably US citizens who like to register (some of) their work with the US copyright registration office. This is not strictly necessary, it does make it a lot easier to defend your copyrights in case you get involved in legal action over a work of yours.

Copyright also works internationally. I'm not in the US (like many more people posting to this site), yet when I post to Literotica (which afaik is a US-hosted site), I'm protected by copyright. Whether I care enough to do something when someone copies my story, that's another matter.

Taking inspiration from other people's work is explicitly allowed. Everyone does so. Take a bit from this movie, from that book, from a song maybe, a photo you've seen, and mix and match and come up with a new story. That's how it's supposed to work.

Back to the original question, expanding someone else's work. If you write to the original author and they say "sure, go ahead", well, end of story.

Continuing a story, that means you're writing a new story. That shouldn't be a problem as such. You may need to change the setting a bit, different names if it's a fantasy land, that kind of things.

Using the original characters may be a problem. I think characters can be copyrighted, as protection of Mickey Mouse is the reason the US is expanding their copyright terms time and again (indeed, that's primarily to protect Mickey Mouse. The rest is just collateral damage). So here it gets a little tricky. Use a different name for the character and you may get away with it.

Rewriting an existing story may or may not be a problem, depending on how close you are to the original.
Click to expand...

Yes, I can tell that you're not in the United States. First, I think you mean the Berne Convention. The Basel Convention is on waste management (then again maybe you really do mean the Basel Convention. :D)

And in the United States, a formal copyright isn't "nice to have" legally. It's what you have to have to get a court date. So, legally, a formal copyright is necessary to get to "go."
 
astuffedshirt_perv said:
I am utterly perplexed at some of the responses you have received. It is ABSOLUTELY fine to continue a story in a different direction, just look at most the stories in the celebrities section!

Come on people, get a grip. It's called fan fiction, it is common and there is no ethical, moral or legal issue doing it.

Of course, plagiarism is still wrong. Be nice and acknowledge the inspiration.
Click to expand...

I don't see what the celebrities section has to do with continuing someone else's written story.

Also, plagiarism isn't involved in continuing a written story either unless you repeat whole passages from the original.

Other than that, I think you are just totally off base in your "ABSOLUTELY fines." :rolleyes:
 
sr71plt said:
Yes, I can tell that you're not in the United States. First, I think you mean the Berne Convention. The Basel Convention is on waste management (then again maybe you really do mean the Basel Convention. :D)
Click to expand...

Ah yes, when writing I had a bad feeling about that one already. I'm actually from the waste/recycling business, that's why :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

PrinDY88
Editor Needed
Replies
3
Views
161
SyleusSnow
SyleusSnow
S
Looking for an editor for my submitted incest story Cousin Lovin
Replies
5
Views
347
storyteller19
S
S
Need An Editor For A Story (mostly MC)
Replies
4
Views
121
stonedinstilletos
S
lavendersilk
Novice Writer Seeking Editor
Replies
2
Views
135
lavendersilk
lavendersilk
EveryDenial
Seaking Female Editor for Female POV story.
Replies
1
Views
196
THoney269
THoney269
Back
Top