Story Idea Rip-Offs by other Authors

ZIP CODE

Really Experienced
Joined
May 2, 2002
Posts
154
I put a question mark here instead of a mad face because I'm not really sure what to do here.

I started a series called the "Cutting Room Floor" series in which I take movies and add scenes or extend them using erotica.

Recently I came across a new author who has taken this same idea but given it a different name. I don't feel right giving out the name of this person because I'm not sure if he/she has intentionally done this or what?

I obviously can't do anything about it, but I just wanted to bitch about it.

He/she doesn't use the same movies, just the idea of the deleted scenes.

Am I being unreasonable in my reaction???

:confused:
 
Sorry friend, but you posted on a board open to the general public. Anything you post in such a place is considered to be public domain, so you have no copyrights to any story ideas you post here.

If these were private borads, however, it might be another matter.

I'd probably be a bit pissed too, but not for very long. It's not worth getting worked up over, IMHO.
 
I'm not sure about that, Star. I'd want to hear from a copyright lawyer on that.

Still, I can see why you might feel upset, Zip, but the fact is that just because you had this idea about deleted scenes doesn't mean no one else is going to think of it themselves. Look at the year they made those two movies about asteroids hitting the earth. Serendipitous things like that happen.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Just concentrate on making your stories the best you can. Even if you two chose the same movie, I'm sure the outcome would be quite different.
 
Actually, we fall under US copyright and Bern convention juridiction just as everyone else does. His idea isn't necessarily protected by copyright.

From http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#102
(b) In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.

He is using copyrighted material to write these stories with in the first place. He's not legally allowed to write stories using characters from movies, scenes, or plots.

I find it interesting that he's incensed about this at all, especially considering that he's doing exactly what he's bitching about.

No, fanfic isn't necessarily legal. It's just usually overlooked because it's not a good idea to sue one's fans. This is the best synopsis I've ever found on the issue: http://writersu.s5.com/law/copyright.html
 
KillerMuffin said:
He is using copyrighted material to write these stories with in the first place. He's not legally allowed to write stories using characters from movies, scenes, or plots.
Subject to the proviso that the copyright still exists. Copyright expires and (for example) you can even use the exact words Shakespeare used to describe Falstaff if you want to write the inside information story of the affair of Sir John and Mistress Quickly and why "a babbled o' green fields."
 
Whoa, whoa, whoa...

Slow down.

I realize that the movies I'm parodying are copywritten. I'm not trying to turn this into a copyright issue. It just seems to me that I have started to get a pretty good fan base off an idea that doesn't appear to have been done yet on Lit.
Then someone comes along and copies my idea. I'm just P.O.ed a little and felt like whining about it. Just looking for moral support and to see if anyone else has had the same issue. Like I said before I realize there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not looking for a answer. I'm just wanting to talk about it. That's what this "Forum" is all about.

ZipCode.
 
as far as i know, if you say somethign online, it is yours. it's automatically... not exaclty copyrighted, but it can be proven that you doid it, and therefore is yours.

i've heard this legally. so....
 
Poor Zip Code!

It's not quite the same, but about 9 months ago a fan of mine wrote to me telling that my most successful story to date had suddenly appeared on eroticstories.com. What was insulting was the title was changed from "The Prenuptial Visit" to Pre wedding visit, and only the two main characters' names were different. Otherwise, it was my story word for word.

I was angry and hurt.

You could write to this other author, and discuss the situation...

Good luck,
mlyn :rose:
 
I'm not sure when you started doing this, but I believe there is prior art on Alt.sex.stories. Just being the first to do it here doesn't really count.

If you were the first author to do this, then I think proper form would be for the other author to at least wait until you stop writing those stories or get permission first. But I wouldn't worry about it too much, imitation is the highest form of flattery.
 
Re: Poor Zip Code!

mlyn said:
my most successful story to date had suddenly appeared on eroticstories.com. What was insulting was the title was changed from "The Prenuptial Visit" to Pre wedding visit, and only the two main characters' names were different. Otherwise, it was my story word for word.

In your case, e-mail Art at Eroticstories.com and ask him to remove the stolen story. I know he is as strongly against stolen stories as Laurel is. Your case is an obvous example of plagiarism.

ZIP CODE's case isn't plagiarism, although it's certainly tacky and bad manners.

The basic idea of writing alternate scenes or deleted scenes isn't covered by copyright protection -- only the specific implementation of the idea, the story itself, is covered by copyright.

The stories posted here at Lit ARE copyrighted -- by the authors -- and Laurel will be very vigorous in helping you defend your copyright where appropriate. Simply posting a story on a free does NOT release it into the public domain. Almost everything on the internet is protected under copyright law.
 
I really don't care if someone take an "idea" of mine. No one can write it like I do.

Now, plagarism is very different - That is taking my words. That would piss me off.

- Judo
 
So let's get this straight...


You're copying someone else's idea, i.e. the story/characters created by the writers of the movies you're 'adding to'...

...and then you're upset because someone else is copying you?





I've never heard anything so funny in my life!
 
MaxSebastian said:
So let's get this straight...


You're copying someone else's idea, i.e. the story/characters created by the writers of the movies you're 'adding to'...

...and then you're upset because someone else is copying you?





I've never heard anything so funny in my life!

So let's get this straight. You're saying that my reaction is wrong?

Okay. Gotcha. Thanks for responding to my thread. I appreciate it.
 
I started a series called "Slut Trek" in which I use an omniscient point of view.

Recently I came across a new author who uses the same point of view but in a different story. I don't feel right giving out the name of this person because I'm not sure if he/she has intentionally done this or what?

I obviously can't do anything about it, but I just wanted to bitch about it.

He/she doesn't use the same plots, just the point of view.

Am I being unreasonable in my reaction???
 
Star of Penumbra said:
Sorry friend, but you posted on a board open to the general public. Anything you post in such a place is considered to be public domain, so you have no copyrights to any story ideas you post here.



.
|
This states one of the urban myths about copyright. It has been said
often, and every time it is said, it is WRONG.
You retain the copyright of any work you write and post to
Lit. They are careful to say that.
There are two ways to get your work into the public domain,
one: die 70 years before; two: grant the work to the public domain in
so many words.
That said, I don't think the original poster has much
ground for complaint. *HE* is writing sex scenes for
characters and background that other authors have created;
the second writer, if -- indeed -- he is second and not
just somebody who got the idea separately, is writing sex
scenes for movies other writers created. The *ORIGINAL* writers might have grounds for complaint; they have some sort of copyright on their characters and situations. The idea as described doesn't sound unique to me. (IANAL, and the idea of "derivative works" is one of the most complicated areas of copyright.)
 
Copyright infringement is one thing...

But idea infringement is basically non-existant in the real world.

About fifteen years ago Playboy magazine had an author do a piece in which parodied Casablanca with a sex scene between the Bogart's Rick and Bergman's Elsa.

Let's face it. Historically you don't have a pot to stand on or a leg to piss in.
 
Plagerism is of course offensive (not to mention theft), but to take a "notion" and use the same "notion" is at best a compliment.

I have been thinking of writing erotica but using the personalities I know and love in Anime. I could care less if someone else wants to do this. The more the merrier I say.

In the anime world it is quite common for fans to take a story and write it "the way we would like to have seen it happen". They are called fanfics. A fan fic is the fans way of supporting your work through admiration.

Copyright infringement? well if I take an original story and do nothing to alter it in anyway, and post it as mine, yes I have stolen someone else's work. I would never do that myself, and would never encourage another to do the same.

But if I create a new original story using well known names and settings, I have added to the universe the story comes from.
If I make it clear it's just a fan fic written by me and not the original author, no one is going to make the mistake of thinking it is something the original author is responsible for.
If the original author expressed extreme dissatisfaction, it would be a simple matter to say "fine, I will go and make someone else's works popular".

I don't know much copyright law, and I am not planning on spending my life studying it either. I won't copy another's work period, but I won't lose sleep over someone that can't take a compliment well either.
 
Excellent Points, ItsLeslie

I for one enjoy the interplay between characters seen from a totally fresh point of view. Yeah, they're not going to make you any money, and you can't claim them as your own "original" work, but hey--it's great fun--and good practice for the writing tools.
 
ZIP CODE

I think you are being very precious - think about the facts.

(1) You take someone else's film - arguably infringing some of their rights.

(2) As there are only a limited number of plots - between 3 and 36 depending on how reductionist you are when you categorize the stories. - (Read Polti "36 Dramatic Situations") Everyone is ripping off someone elses ideas. - If you had a precious world all creativity would have stopped with the ancient Greeks and more likely with the story telling cave painters of pre-history.

(3) Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

jon:devil: :devil: :devil:
 
When I was first thinking of posting, I had a storyline in mind. However, after I had browsed some of the other stories online I came across two others that were based on the same premise. They weren't written in the same way that I would have, but they were similar enough that I decided to go in another direction. It wasn't that I felt that they had usurped my idea, or I theirs, I guess I just felt that...okay, this has been done. I'll do something else.

I'd like to think that my ideas are original, but we are the sum of our experiences and our pasts. Sometimes the subconscious thoughts that we think are unique to us come from other sources we've absorbed without realizing it.

On the other hand...at one time I came across a story which, when I started reading it, I discovered to be word for word a story I had read on Lit by another author. The new 'author' had merely changed the title and description, but nothing else. It was as if he had just cut and pasted it into the submission form. This upset me as the original was by one of my favorite authors on Lit, and one of my favorite stories. Also, I had gotten the impression that this sort of thing was not allowed here. At any rate, I sent Laurel a 'What the heck is this...isn't this the same story?' e-mail. I'm sure I'm not the only one who noticed this nor the only one who questioned it. The story had been removed a couple of days later.
 
I once read somewhere that after the Oddysey and the Illiad everything else was just copying them for plots....

There are only so many plots.

I play rolegames (the paper and pencil sort of hobby most know as Dungeons and Dragons). I know that as a person that runs those games for 3-5 individuals on occasion, that there are only only so many ways to do a "thing".

You can change the words, but eventually you risk just being wordy.

Still, for all those that would merely copy someone's work, I say this to you. You have proven even to yourself, that you lack sufficient brains and imagination, to at least try to be different.
It's worse than being lazy, it's proof positive you are useless.

For those out there that strive to be unique, keep trying.
 
Les orated:

You can change the words, but eventually you risk just being wordy.

That is so funny coming from you, Les!

You need an editor standing over your shoulder 24/7. ROFTL
 
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