Continue a story from different author

[Fleefish]

I want to continue a story, which was written another author and its not chain story. The author is inactive, and i cant ask him for premisson to use his caracters. So my question is, can i continue it?

Fleefish

 

[subwannabe]

I don't know how other's will answer but I think people here get way too involved in this stuff. I don't personally think that anything here is copyrighted unless you have sent it to Washington DC to get an official copyright. Even then there are really no damages unless the second person actually makes money off of it. In addition, if your story is not the same as the other story, I don't see where people could get sensitive over copyright issues anyway. When does the author's profile say they were on Lit last? If it's been a while I say go for it but if they have been active on the site recently, even if they haven't submitted any stories, then you should probably hold off. Maybe one of the moderators could send them a third party email and ask them for you.

 

[Fleefish]

His profil says "Last Modified: January 10, 2012", he is inactive. And he is inactive on other site too.

 

[midwestyankee]

I don't know how other's will answer but I think people here get way too involved in this stuff. I don't personally think that anything here is copyrighted unless you have sent it to Washington DC to get an official copyright. Even then there are really no damages unless the second person actually makes money off of it. In addition, if your story is not the same as the other story, I don't see where people could get sensitive over copyright issues anyway. When does the author's profile say they were on Lit last? If it's been a while I say go for it but if they have been active on the site recently, even if they haven't submitted any stories, then you should probably hold off. Maybe one of the moderators could send them a third party email and ask them for you.

I'm sure you're a nice person but this is simply not a well-informed reply to the OP's question.

Here's what the Literotica FAQ have to say about copyright:

If I submit a story to Literotica, do I still own the copyright?

Absolutely. You are simply granting us a non-exclusive right to publish your story on Literotica.com and granting Literotica the right to enforce the copyright on your story should it be used without your permission by any other publication - online, print, or other media.

While Literotica is not in any way required to enforce your copyright for you, you are granting us the right to do so if we become aware of anyone using your story without your explicit consent. The right to enforce your copyright that you are granting us includes the right to file DMCA complaints, file lawsuits, and any and all other necessary actions, both foreign and domestic, to prevent unauthorized people and companies from using your submissions without your permission.

The reason we require you to grant us the shared right to enforce your copyright (of course you also retain the right to enforce your own copyrights) is so that we have the legal power needed to protect your works from unauthorized publication on websites and in other media. As long as you grant permission to a website or other media to publish your stories, we have no right to enforce copyright law on them. Only websites or other media that publish/copy your stories without your permission are included in this granting of rights.

Other than these two issues, all rights to the story still belong to you, the author.​

There are certainly ethical ways for the OP to continue the story, even using the same character names and so on, beginning with appropriate attribution for the idea and characters and so on. But to suggest that "there are really no damages unless the second person actually makes money off of it." ignores the fact that a stolen story is a stolen story, regardless of whether the thief is compensated and regardless, copyright has been broken.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I don't know how other's will answer but I think people here get way too involved in this stuff. I don't personally think that anything here is copyrighted unless you have sent it to Washington DC to get an official copyright. Even then there are really no damages unless the second person actually makes money off of it. In addition, if your story is not the same as the other story, I don't see where people could get sensitive over copyright issues anyway. When does the author's profile say they were on Lit last? If it's been a while I say go for it but if they have been active on the site recently, even if they haven't submitted any stories, then you should probably hold off. Maybe one of the moderators could send them a third party email and ask them for you.

Everything post here is owned by the author...it is under copyright and you could be sued, even arrested for violation of that copyright.

As for active or inactive...2012 isn't that far away, so I would say that the author is still active. 2006 might be another story, but the work is still owned by him/her.

Ask an author about how much they would care...oh, wait, I'm an author. Unless you have my permission...the answer is "you better not". When I found out there would be hell to pay. I don't care if you have money or not.

Now if you would have asked, maybe I would be okay with it. But you just don't do it and ask for forgiveness.

Have you ever read a copyright warning?

Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

 

[subwannabe]

Thanks for posting the forum rules but Literotica forum rules talk about you owning a copyright BEFORE being published on this site. My mother was a real author and actually did own copyrights to her material. You have to submit the works you want copyrighted to Washington DC to get an official copyright tor a particular material, much like a patent. If you don't get an official patent for your invention or a copyright for your written material you are SOL. Just because your story is posted on Literotica doesn't automatically grant you a copyright. That's why the forum rules talk about you already having a copyright. In any event, this poster is talking about a completely new story, not talking about copying an existing story.

 

[Everyday_Man]

From what I've read, submitting a work for a copyright simply adds extra protection in legal matters should someone steal your work, otherwise once you put it out there, it belongs to you. So long as you can prove you were the original creator, which makes cataloging your work with the copyright offices a good choice. Just because you don't file your work with the government doesn't make it 'fair game.' It still belongs to the author and a man taking over someone else's story is theft, even if it's not profitable. He is making an unauthorized sequel.

You can go to copyright.gov and look up everything, there is a lot to read, but just because your mother was an author and took the extra precaution of copyrighting her work (which is always smart if you plan on protecting the commercial use) does not make you an expert.

Now instead of starting a part 2 to someone else's idea, he could write a part 1 to his own idea and use that story for inspiration.

 

[Everyday_Man]

I want to continue a story, which was written another author and its not chain story. The author is inactive, and i cant ask him for premisson to use his caracters. So my question is, can i continue it?

Fleefish

What's the story? I'm always interested in a good read.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Thanks for posting the forum rules but Literotica forum rules talk about you owning a copyright BEFORE being published on this site. My mother was a real author and actually did own copyrights to her material. You have to submit the works you want copyrighted to Washington DC to get an official copyright tor a particular material, much like a patent. If you don't get an official patent for your invention or a copyright for your written material you are SOL. Just because your story is posted on Literotica doesn't automatically grant you a copyright. That's why the forum rules talk about you already having a copyright. In any event, this poster is talking about a completely new story, not talking about copying an existing story.

And how do you know which authors here, at Lit., haven't done that? Feel like playing Russian Roulette with your bank account and life?

I'll bet you have never seen this either...

Warning: the unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

You are right...Literotica doesn't grant the copyright, that is held by the author until he dies and then by his descendants ad infinitum until 14 years after the last descendant is dead. Even if he/she doesn't register it with the government it is still the authors intellectual property. Even if they never publish, post or otherwise let anyone see their work, it is still theirs.

I wrote it, it's mine and the law says you can't steal it without penalty. Feel like having you life turned upside down for a 1,000 word story you took a liking too?

 

[silverwhisper]

fleefish, obviously you liked the story that inspired this thread.

why not submit your story with a preface indicating it was inspired by [story] by [litster] with handy links for both? don't describe it as a continuation: assuming you've done your job well as a writer, that will be clear.

ed

 

[GiggLeGasm]

What you're asking about is derivative work. Copyrights would protect the original work and the derivative work. You do not need to submit original creations to Washington DC for copyright. Submission formalizes copyright registration; but copyright exists from the time of creation.

You are not able to search by the author's real name. As far as you can tell, the author may still be active under a different identity at this site. It is the author who owns the material, not the screen name. there is also the possibility that the material is jointly owned by another person who is not a listed author.

It seems as if this material has prompted other ideas for you. Would it be possible to explore your response to the other story a little further so that you can develop an entirely different lineage of work? It would take more effort; but it would be a cleaner creation and you eliminate the risk of being poorly perceived.

 

[subwannabe]

Zeb: You are full of yourself. You and I both know that probably not even one author with a story here has submitted even one of their Literotica works to the copyright office so quit trying to scare me with a bunch of hot air BS. If anyone has officially copyrighted anything here it is like 5 out of hundreds of thousands but I'm still betting on zero. Your warning posted is for officially copyrighted material, not for stories posted on the internet. Haven't you ever heard the expression that once you have posted something on the internet it is fair game for all? If you make a porn video and upload it to the internet it is not automatically copyrighted material and can spread like wildfire and you don't get a dime in return from royalties or from $250,000 fines. I'm very comfortable in playing Russian Roulette with a gun I know has no bullets. As someone else mentioned, if you could prove 100% that you are the original author then maybe, just maybe, you might have a case but let's face the facts - almost no one here could prove in a court of law that they are the original author. On top of that, even if you won, which is highly unlikely, you don't just win $250,000 - you would have to prove damages and would be awarded damages for any monies the stealing person made off the theft, which in these cases is probably going to be ZERO. In addition, no lawyer is going to touch the case unless you pay him money up front and the lawyers who only work for a cut if the case is won are going to usher you out the door. In any event, the OP did the right thing by posting and asking the question and what he wanted to do was merely write a new story that doesn't even copy the original one. Just because someone wrote a sex story about Bob & Carol and Ted & Alice doesn't mean that no one else can write a different story with these same characters. Look how many sex stories are written here about celebrities. I don't see any celebrities suing Literotica.

 

[fire_breeze]

Copyright is a funny thing. Technically, whatever I write is mine. If I register it, on the other hand, it would give me better protection if I chose to pursue.

This is also to ensure the fact that not every country has the same copyright laws, and therefore the Berne Convention was convened to insure the protection of all creative and academic works. By creating the work, the author is protected (usually) all across the board. If I write something in Canada (and I have) which is used abroad (it was), I can demand proper citations and credit (I did). Registration becomes only necessary to obtain statutory damages for infringement (didn't register and didn't want it anyway). I was fully protected, even though I did not register my work with any office in Washington or otherwise.

The OP is from Hungary, and while it's been a long while since I've lived there, I do know as fact that the copyright laws - as is the plagiarism laws - are different than that from the USA, but is also a part of the Berne Convention and therefore it applies to the OP.

Celebrities are considered to be parodies and therefore are protected under the fair use.

So yes, you're right, in order to pursue full extent for copyright infringement, which includes damages, it's necessary to register. However, because the USofA has joined the Berne convention, and I quote: registration is no longer necessary to provide copyright protection

 

[subwannabe]

I think Literotica should be taken for what it is, a free depository of many, many stories. No one has to pay any membership fees to join and no one has to pay for reading it's content in any way. The authors of the stories here do not make any money for getting their story posted nor do they make any money from how many times it is read. They are freely sharing with everyone in the world what they wrote free of charge. If someone were to repost one of the author's stories somewhere else (even if claiming it as their own), and no money is earned off the endeavor, no monetary damage has been done. Therefore, you would stand little chance of collecting any damages other than a cease and desist order possibly being issued. As I said in my previous post, the author would have to fork over money for an attorney to start the process and I doubt any attorney who only works off winning judgments (particularly when neither the author nor the thief makes any money off of the dispute) would take on the case. Of course if anyone should actually steal a work of art here and use it to make money then we may be talking an entirely different ballgame.

Now I do want to say that I am not advocating copyright infringement (whether registered or not) and appreciate the work that the authors do here and that they should be recognized for it and not have any of their work stolen in any way, shape, or form. However, I think some take this far too seriously and that Literotica should be taken for what it is as a free depository of many quality stories to be freely shared with anyone in the world who can receive pleasure out of reading them.

 

[GiggLeGasm]

I respectfully disagree. I believe that there is more at risk when stealing creative property and claiming ownership. Having been around artists of many kinds for a great deal of my life, I find that the love of art is not attached to the money. I suppose we could argue that the lack of damages gives anyone free reign on a forum such as this; but I'm not sure it makes it right to adopt the respect among thieves viewpoint.

Ultimately, it's up to the op to decide how it would feel if he/she was the creator and someone else did a spinoff. There may be some level of flattery attached. It could go either way.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Zeb: You are full of yourself. You and I both know that probably not even one author with a story here has submitted even one of their Literotica works to the copyright office so quit trying to scare me with a bunch of hot air BS. If anyone has officially copyrighted anything here it is like 5 out of hundreds of thousands but I'm still betting on zero. Your warning posted is for officially copyrighted material, not for stories posted on the internet. Haven't you ever heard the expression that once you have posted something on the internet it is fair game for all? If you make a porn video and upload it to the internet it is not automatically copyrighted material and can spread like wildfire and you don't get a dime in return from royalties or from $250,000 fines. I'm very comfortable in playing Russian Roulette with a gun I know has no bullets. As someone else mentioned, if you could prove 100% that you are the original author then maybe, just maybe, you might have a case but let's face the facts - almost no one here could prove in a court of law that they are the original author. On top of that, even if you won, which is highly unlikely, you don't just win $250,000 - you would have to prove damages and would be awarded damages for any monies the stealing person made off the theft, which in these cases is probably going to be ZERO. In addition, no lawyer is going to touch the case unless you pay him money up front and the lawyers who only work for a cut if the case is won are going to usher you out the door. In any event, the OP did the right thing by posting and asking the question and what he wanted to do was merely write a new story that doesn't even copy the original one. Just because someone wrote a sex story about Bob & Carol and Ted & Alice doesn't mean that no one else can write a different story with these same characters. Look how many sex stories are written here about celebrities. I don't see any celebrities suing Literotica.

Actually, I know several, me included.

But Laurel and Manu will see it and is why they will delete any stolen story and the account that submitted it.

So go ahead and steal, that's exactly what it is.


Of course the OP did the right thing, but you, suggesting that it's okay to steal someone else intellectual property...now that's horseshit.

 

[silverwhisper]

zeb quoth:
but you, suggesting that it's okay to steal someone else intellectual property...now that's horseshit.

QFT. well said, zeb.

ed

 

[subwannabe]

Actually, I never really suggested that. If you look at my very first post I actually suggested to the OP that maybe they could contact a moderator to attempt a third party email to the original story author in order to get permission to do a continuation of the original story. I did, however, try to explain that the legalties of enforcing copyright laws on stories on this site is more wishful thinking and emotion rather than reality. This was for informational puposes only and not meant to be an endorsement of stealing other's work. In fact, in one of my last posts I clearly said that I don't think that any author's work should be stolen in any way, shape, or form.

 

[CWatson]

I want to continue a story, which was written another author and its not chain story. The author is inactive, and i cant ask him for premisson to use his caracters. So my question is, can i continue it?

Fleefish

No. It would be the equivalent of coming home to your house to find that your neighbor is eating your food and typing away at your computer. "Well, you weren't using it, I figured it'd be okay." Sure, if you ignore the emotional or moral ramifications of taking something without permission.

I have a friend who asked permission to borrow a couple of my characters so that she could try her hand at fiction. Once I got the draft, I pretty much shredded it for getting the characters wrong. I realize now that this was the wrong reaction; she was trying to find her voice, not copy mine. But even with permission, when I saw her getting my characters wrong, I reacted defensively.

That's the thing. The characters, the story? For some authors, they're kind of like your children. You don't want to see=e them mishandled or abused. And precisely what counts as "mishandled or abused" will differ from author to author. I chewed out my friend because she was writing my character as too obsessed with cosmetics and appearances (which, in retrospect, may have been a valid interpretation to begin with), but if she'd had the character sleeping with her boyfriend on the first date, I wouldn't have objected. Others? Hey, you can throw my character at a football team and she'll entertain them all, but no, she'd never say "I love you," didn't you read the story? Or, Sure, she'll say "I love you," but an entire football team??? Who do you think she is?

And when it comes to the money angle, it does become problematic, because let's face it: you don't own these characters. Someone else does. In the event that you make money off of your proposed continuation (which is very unlikely, since nobody wants to pay for porn anymore), what percentage of it should go to the original author? I bet you there'll be a disagreement one way or another. Better, perhaps, to just not step in that minefield.

So, simply put: No. Why? Because you run a decent risk of offending someone whom you respect.

My free opinion, worth what you paid for it.

 

[Carnevil9]

If someone were to write a continuation of one of my stories, I'd be flattered.

Granted, others may not feel the same way. But you aren't taking any money out of anyone's pocket, so I say go for it. If they complain, you can always take it down and no harm has been done. It's easier to get forgiveness than permission.