Policy Regarding Posting Stories That Are Not Your Own

[purpleswordpanties]

Hello,

Not sure where to ask this question, but feel free to move it if necessary.

1. Say I have commissioned stories featuring my characters. Although the plot and characters are my own, someone else did the legwork. Can we post those stories? Are there any rules or limitations about that?

2. I have a story saved on my PC dating back from 1999 from an author who can no longer be found or reached. The story was a fanfiction, but it was well-written and impacted me, so I saved it. 20 years later, the story can no longer be found anywhere on the internet due to the website (the old old yahoo groups?) being long gone. Should I post this story?

Thanks!

 

[Emmeran]

Always check the Wayback Machine before even asking: https://archive.org/web/web.php

 

[purpleswordpanties]

Always check the Wayback Machine before even asking: https://archive.org/web/web.php

Nupe, Wayback doesn't have it. The story is absolutely ancient and from an ancient time. Like from right when around the original Pokemon game came out.

I think I might post this thing with credit to the original author. The name of the story is "Sakura" by Ghastly.

 

[NotWise]

Here are the submission guidelines

Hello,

Not sure where to ask this question, but feel free to move it if necessary.

1. Say I have commissioned stories featuring my characters. Although the plot and characters are my own, someone else did the legwork. Can we post those stories? Are there any rules or limitations about that?

You have to be the sole author of a story you publish on Lit. That said, some stories here are coauthored.

Hello,

2. I have a story saved on my PC dating back from 1999 from an author who can no longer be found or reached. The story was a fanfiction, but it was well-written and impacted me, so I saved it. 20 years later, the story can no longer be found anywhere on the internet due to the website (the old old yahoo groups?) being long gone. Should I post this story?

No. You can't publish stories you did not author.

 

[KeithD]

1. If you commissioned it and own it, it's yours to publish.

2. Nope. I you don't own it, you don't have a right to post it.

 

[jaF0]

1. Say I have commissioned stories featuring my characters. Although the plot and characters are my own, someone else did the legwork. Can we post those stories? Are there any rules or limitations about that?

You have to be the sole author of a story you publish on Lit. That said, some stories here are coauthored.

1. If you commissioned it and own it, it's yours to publish.

Gotta love consistency. My position: If the author signed off on the commission either after payment or other method of transferring ownership, then you can do as you wish. If not, it may be considered 'co-authored' and you would need their permission to post it. They may have thought you wanted it for personal use only and might object to posting.

 

[KeithD]

Just commissioning and providing ideas for a story don't constitute coauthoring the story. To coauthor you have to do some of the writing that survives to the final yourself. Also, it depends on what the commissioning agreement actually states about ownership of the material on who owns the copyright on it. Commissioning is just paying to have it written; it isn't ipso facto a declaration of any sort on who owns the publication rights to the material once it's written.

I've had folks commissioning me to write erotica stories. I've never given up copyright on the stories, though. They have to live with just being able to read it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

1. Is down to whatever agreement you have with the commissioned writer, and in the absence of that contract here, no-one can sensibly advise you. Read the small print.

2. No. It's not yours to publish, because it's not yours. The author might never want it to see the light of day, the author might have expressedly taken it down, the author might have done any number of things, all of which are academic. It's not your property, so no, you can't just do whatever you like with it. Not if you have any ethics. This type of thing pops up once a year, I reckon, and the answers usually get tangled up in blah blah blah about copyright and ownership and legalities, but rarely bother with the ethics or morality of it all.

Unlike 1. which is shades of grey (so the answer is, maybe), 2. is pretty clearly black and white to me. No.

 

[purpleswordpanties]

Thanks. Understood.

 

[OmnislashXX]

It's like if you bought a copy of Harry Potter, wrote your name as the author instead and re-released it. The author still wrote the piece, he just sold you the rights to read it. It's like owning a DVD. Can you sell it as your own? Of course not.

 

[Hypoxia]

Were I in the OP's situation, I might 1) start a blog; 2) post stories there, crediting the actual authors; 3) add a link to the blog from my LIT profile. But as noted, your #2 story might be unavailable because the actual author WANTS it gone. If it's not public domain and you lack permission, let it be.

 

[KeithD]

Were I in the OP's situation, I might 1) start a blog ;2) post stories there, crediting the actual authors;

And why do you think that would be either legally or ethically OK without the author's explicit permission? It wouldn't be.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

The bottom line is did "commissioning" constitute a work for hire or not and the transfer of the copyright. This thread is a cautionary tale for why you never take or give a "commission" without having it all spelled out in writing.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Were I in the OP's situation, I might 1) start a blog; 2) post stories there, crediting the actual authors; 3) add a link to the blog from my LIT profile. But as noted, your #2 story might be unavailable because the actual author WANTS it gone. If it's not public domain and you lack permission, let it be.

Huh? A blog is publishing content into the public domain. How is that any different to Lit or any other publishing platform? The same rules (and ethics) apply.

This notion that, "Oh, it's for my own personal use and I'm a reader and I have rights too" is bullshit - I'm surprised at this post, Hypoxia, it's not like you. You're usually a champion for content creators and owners.

 

[NotWise]

The bottom line is did "commissioning" constitute a work for hire or not and the transfer of the copyright. This thread is a cautionary tale for why you never take or give a "commission" without having it all spelled out in writing.

I linked the site's requirements in my first reply to the OP. It makes no mention of owning the copyright as a criteria for publishing. The person submitting the story must claim sole authorship. By that criteria, a commissioned work would seem to be unacceptable to Lit, regardless of the copyright ownership.

The site makes obvious exceptions for co-authored stories.

 

[SimonDoom]

NotWise makes a good point. Copyright principles don't determine what you can do here; you have to look at Laurel's rules to know what you can do.

Under copyright law, if you are a co-author, you can publish a story, even without the permission of the other co-author. But under Laurel's rules, it appears you have to be the sole author. I assume her rule means that if two authors agree, a story can be published. There are plenty of good examples where co-authored stories here have been published. But if both authors don't agree, Laurel's rules would appear to prevent one of the authors unilaterally from publishing the story.

Under copyright law, the owner can publish a story even if the owner is not the author. If the author transferred the work to the owner, or if the work was a work made for hire, then the owner can publish it. But under Laurel's rules it appears that only the "author" can publish the story.

 

[Hypoxia]

I said "I might". Then I said, "let it be," i.e. don't. I'm sorry that's not clear to some.

 

[KeithD]

NotWise makes a good point. Copyright principles don't determine what you can do here; you have to look at Laurel's rules to know what you can do.

Under copyright law, if you are a co-author, you can publish a story, even without the permission of the other co-author. But under Laurel's rules, it appears you have to be the sole author. I assume her rule means that if two authors agree, a story can be published. There are plenty of good examples where co-authored stories here have been published. But if both authors don't agree, Laurel's rules would appear to prevent one of the authors unilaterally from publishing the story.

Under copyright law, the owner can publish a story even if the owner is not the author. If the author transferred the work to the owner, or if the work was a work made for hire, then the owner can publish it. But under Laurel's rules it appears that only the "author" can publish the story.

Saab and I coauthor here under Shabbu and Laurel has never asked if we both agree to it. They all are published without question.

 

[eroticstoryspinner]

I linked the site's requirements in my first reply to the OP. It makes no mention of owning the copyright as a criteria for publishing. The person submitting the story must claim sole authorship. By that criteria, a commissioned work would seem to be unacceptable to Lit, regardless of the copyright ownership.

The site makes obvious exceptions for co-authored stories.

Probably never going to come up for me, but I wonder if laurel has every made a specific clarification because that is contrary to normal practice. OTOH, Laurel's site and laurel's rules.

 

[NotWise]

Saab and I coauthor here under Shabbu and Laurel has never asked if we both agree to it. They all are published without question.

I doubt that Laurel would do anything unless one of you complained about the other. Even then, I don't know what she would do. It's hard to substantiate claims.

 

[KeithD]

I doubt that Laurel would do anything unless one of you complained about the other. Even then, I don't know what she would do. It's hard to substantiate claims.

I was responding to the suggestion that she even checks.