Are there rules republishing another authors work?

[metropolinational]

I have a saved copy of a story another author wrote; it was on the BDSM Library. Can I republish it and give the original author credit with my edits? The site is defunct, and I've been unable to locate the story anywhere else. The story is good; I think it is worth saving. It will require some editing, as it references sex with minors, but other than that, it's a good story.

Thought? I've been unable to locate the original author, so I do not have permission to republish it.

Good for you for wanting to preserve the authors work. It is possible that the author is dead, the repository is gone, and you may be the only person willing and able to replicate it here so it can live on.

I believe there are legal ways to do this, but you won't hear about them here. This specific forum is to the right of Attila the Hun on this issue, as you've probably already observed.

I'm far from an expert and have never done this myself, but I hate you to walk out of this feeling like this can't be done, or worse, that it's immoral to even consider doing it. That's ridiculous. I fear a few of the posters here would have cheered for the library of Alexandria burning because some of those works were reproduced without proper permission from the original authors, provided in legal papyrus, in triplicate.

So, with those caveats, I will say this:

1. You must conduct a "diligent search" (google the term along with "orphan works"), and document it. Wherever this work ends up, you should include this documentation. Not only does this protect you or wherever you publish this, but it also helps the next budding archivist along. Maybe they will be able to locate the real author and get their permission.

2. Contact the Society of American Archivists for guidance on what constitutes due diligence in this case. My suspicion is that you've already done enough and you just need to document it. But, ask. It doesn't hurt and you will have a chance to meet some extremely cool people.

3. Your best legal avenue after that is (17 U.S.C. § 107), otherwise known as Fair Use. Search for the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW). They have a website called The Archive of Our Own (AO3), which is dedicated specifically to transformative works. What you are proposing here is specifically transformative work, so I would start there as a republishing platform.

4. Whatever you do, always publish the work with the items in #1 clearly visible at the top, full attribution, a full takedown invitation, a note of the provenance of your copy of the work and state you believe in implied consent since the content was freely distributed online.

5. Make no attempt to profit as that will surely put you at increased legal risk.

6. If you are particularly married to the idea of using Lit for this purpose, I would suggest doing steps 1 and 2 above, and then contacting the site owners directly with your request. I would not take the advice from this forum at face value, as people are very dogmatic here on this issue.

7. Finally, if nothing else works, you could also, under fair use, describe the work and invite others to produce their own work, matching the description. Again, easier done at AO3 than here since transformative works is their thing.

Good luck.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Good for you for wanting to preserve the authors work. It is possible that the author is dead, the repository is gone, and you may be the only person willing and able to replicate it here so it can live on.

I believe there are legal ways to do this, but you won't hear about them here. This specific forum is to the right of Attila the Hun on this issue, as you've probably already observed.

I'm far from an expert and have never done this myself, but I hate you to walk out of this feeling like this can't be done, or worse, that it's immoral to even consider doing it. That's ridiculous. I fear a few of the posters here would have cheered for the library of Alexandria burning because some of those works were reproduced without proper permission from the original authors, provided in legal papyrus, in triplicate.

So, with those caveats, I will say this:

1. You must conduct a "diligent search" (google the term along with "orphan works"), and document it. Wherever this work ends up, you should include this documentation. Not only does this protect you or wherever you publish this, but it also helps the next budding archivist along. Maybe they will be able to locate the real author and get their permission.

2. Contact the Society of American Archivists for guidance on what constitutes due diligence in this case. My suspicion is that you've already done enough and you just need to document it. But, ask. It doesn't hurt and you will have a chance to meet some extremely cool people.

3. Your best legal avenue after that is (17 U.S.C. § 107), otherwise known as Fair Use. Search for the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW). They have a website called The Archive of Our Own (AO3), which is dedicated specifically to transformative works. What you are proposing here is specifically transformative work, so I would start there as a republishing platform.

4. Whatever you do, always publish the work with the items in #1 clearly visible at the top, full attribution, a full takedown invitation, a note of the provenance of your copy of the work and state you believe in implied consent since the content was freely distributed online.

5. Make no attempt to profit as that will surely put you at increased legal risk.

6. If you are particularly married to the idea of using Lit for this purpose, I would suggest doing steps 1 and 2 above, and then contacting the site owners directly with your request. I would not take the advice from this forum at face value, as people are very dogmatic here on this issue.

7. Finally, if nothing else works, you could also, under fair use, describe the work and invite others to produce their own work, matching the description. Again, easier done at AO3 than here since transformative works is their thing.

Good luck.

This is all fine and beaut, but plagiarism isn't allowed on this site. The OP says he would edit the work to make the content compliant with this site's policies, which means he knows what the site policies are. Those policies include "no plagiarism", and you can't go and pick and choose which policies you want to abide by, and which ones you don't.

So, unless the OP has the original author's permission to go do edits, or until the original owner's copyright expires (a long wait), then the answer remains no, it's still plagiarism, and not allowed on this site. It's also one of the few reasons an account can be banned, and there aren't many of those.

As an aside, "fair use" is more applicable in an academic context, where material is being cited for review or appraisal purposes. Re-using someone else's content holus bolus hardly falls under that criteria.

 

[metropolinational]

@ElectricBlue, I'm 100% against plagiarism. However, you and I may disagree about what plagiarism is and is not. Further, I do not wish to engage in a discussion, in this forum, on any issues around copyright and plagiarism. I don't believe it's fruitful and people (not you) tend to become rapidly antagonistic. I will soon find myself arguing against a whole mob, not just one person. It's a lot of work for absolutely no payoff.

If you notice, I provide OP with what I consider some useful resources outside of this site, as I agree with you that Lit is probably not the best place for what he is proposing.

I also agree with you that fair use is more applicable to academic settings. However, it has been used elsewhere. Again, I am not a copyright lawyer and what I did is direct OP to outside resources, of which there are many.

 

[Katie_Mae]

To publish a story on Literotica, you must certify the following stipulations to be true:

• You’re 18 years of age or older and legally able to write, publish, and read erotic material;
• You’re the sole creator of the work, you own the copyright, and you grant Literotica the legal rights to publish the submitted work;
• Your work does not contain any nonpublishable content as defined in our Content Guidelines;
• You grant Literotica the right to use all legal means available to protect your published work from unauthorized use by other parties.

https://www.literotica.com/resources/submission-guidelines
(Emphasis mine.)