help re: quoting from other's work

[davidwatts]

Assistance from those far wiser needed if you please....

I tried searching for help with this but I am so lame in using that feature I got nowhere. I had sent an e-mail to Literotica about a similar question but got no response.

Here's my question...

What are the rules regarding having characters in a story read from a published work? Is it legal? The work would be credited fully, at the time in the story that the quoting is done as well as at the end of the story, or would it be better to just paraphrase it and credit appropriately? This would be stray sentences a couple of times, not page upon page.

I'm not trying to steal it in any way, shape or form, I'm just hoping to use it in the context of the story.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Assistance from those far wiser needed if you please....

I tried searching for help with this but I am so lame in using that feature I got nowhere. I had sent an e-mail to Literotica about a similar question but got no response.

Here's my question...

What are the rules regarding having characters in a story read from a published work? Is it legal? The work would be credited fully, at the time in the story that the quoting is done as well as at the end of the story, or would it be better to just paraphrase it and credit appropriately? This would be stray sentences a couple of times, not page upon page.

I'm not trying to steal it in any way, shape or form, I'm just hoping to use it in the context of the story.

Theoretically, using someone else's characters is an infringement of their copyright, unless you have their approval. In practice, most authors, movies, songs etc. tacitlly ackowledge that their characters are used in fan fics. The goad there is that as long as the story is on a free site and the author doesn't profit from using their characters, it isn't worth taking action and alienating fans.

In specific, you can pilfer characters from works that have gone into the public domain and get by with simply accrediting the original author. Characters who are still under copyright you can pretty safely borrow, as long as you accredit the author and DON'T profit from the work.

Whenever you are using someone else's work, you are treading along the line of legal and actionable. by and large, if you are writing a story for a free porn site, accrue no money from your work and accredit the original author you may or may not be breaking the law, but the odds are great it isn't worth the copyright owners time or effort to stop you. That said, some company owned characters are a different story. Disney has taken action before as has Mattel when a work portrays a character they own in a way they find offensive.

For actual specifics you would have to look up the applicable laws for your area as well as the international copyright laws that specifically apply.

-Colly

 

[oggbashan]

The answer is 'It depends'.

Fan fiction is a recognised genre but some people will defend their creations to the death with corporate lawyers.

Using characters by long-dead authors is usually safe. I have done it with Swift's Gulliver.

Quoting is a difficult area for published authors. While acceptable in academic texts with full acknowledgement it is a grey area in fiction. Permission should be sought and obtained first.

Some authors e.g Dean Koontz have gone so far as to create fake 'quotes' they have written themselves to avoid the problems that exist in using other people's work.

If you are not making a profit from the work you might be safe. You may not be. If you intend to publish and hope to make money it is better to be wholly original.

Og

 

[davidwatts]

Thanks Colleen and oggbashan.

The characters are my completely my own, most likely because no one else would have them. The story itself will live and die here, as I have no illusions or delusions of anything more at this point.

My idea was that one character was going to read from a well known manual of sorts, while the other character was going to be following the instructions. Alex Comfort is no longer with us, but I neither want to make him spin or break any laws. Perhaps I would be better off just not quoting and just giving the general idea of what he wrote. I assume that it's alright to mention the title and author of a book?

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Thanks Colleen and oggbashan.

The characters are my completely my own, most likely because no one else would have them. The story itself will live and die here, as I have no illusions or delusions of anything more at this point.

My idea was that one character was going to read from a well known manual of sorts, while the other character was going to be following the instructions. Alex Comfort is no longer with us, but I neither want to make him spin or break any laws. Perhaps I would be better off just not quoting and just giving the general idea of what he wrote. I assume that it's alright to mention the title and author of a book?

Titles cannot be copyrighted

Best of luck, whichever way you choose to go

 

[gauchecritic]

In that context I can see no problem at all, particularly since you are using only lines of text and not paragraphs or pages.

It's been done before, here on Lit. many, many times.

Gauche

 

[davidwatts]

Thank you all for being so helpful.

 

[Weird Harold]

What are the rules regarding having characters in a story read from a published work? Is it legal? The work would be credited fully, at the time in the story that the quoting is done as well as at the end of the story, ...

As Oggs, says, it depends.

However, I think what you're describing would fall under the classification of "Fair Use" and be defensible even if the author did object.

 

[KarenAM]

The answer is 'It depends'.

Fan fiction is a recognised genre but some people will defend their creations to the death with corporate lawyers.

Using characters by long-dead authors is usually safe. I have done it with Swift's Gulliver.

Quoting is a difficult area for published authors. While acceptable in academic texts with full acknowledgement it is a grey area in fiction. Permission should be sought and obtained first.

Some authors e.g Dean Koontz have gone so far as to create fake 'quotes' they have written themselves to avoid the problems that exist in using other people's work.

If you are not making a profit from the work you might be safe. You may not be. If you intend to publish and hope to make money it is better to be wholly original.

Og

Good points all. In nonfiction, proper citation is sufficient to put you under the "fair use" provisions of coyright law. In fiction this may also apply, though it is harder to provide citation without interrupting the flow of the story.

I've done the Dean Koontz thing myself; glad to know I'm not the first.

Finally, it is also permissible to quote from a work if you are reviewing it and have it fall under "fair use", but there is a limit to how much you can quote, and of course, in a review, it is clear who you are quoting.

And as Colly said, titles cannot be copyrighted. Nor can ideas. Soon I will be releasing my new bestseller "The Grapes of Wrath", which is all about naughty cheerleaders in crotchless panties, and the Eskimos who love them.

 

[fifty5]

As above, the use you describe sounds fine.

The only point in the author taking you to court would be to get more publicity for themselves...



Eff