Intellectual Property

OTW Fannews: Fanfiction everywhere

Submitted by Claudia Rebaza on 25 January 2013 - 8:29pm

Bob Tarantino at JD Supra Law updated a 2010 discussion about fanfic in light of recent developments in Canada. "A discussion of the legal implications of fan fiction would not be complete without mentioning two relevant matters which are not affected by the UGC exception introduced by the CMA: moral rights and trade-mark (or passing off) claims." Although the UGC exception pertains to copyright infringement, it "has no effect on an author's potential moral rights claims. And because fan fiction may make use of elements of an author's creation such as titles, character and location names to which some form of trade-mark protection applies (e.g., Star Wars fan fiction that makes use of character names like Luke Skywaylker (a registered mark in Canada), ...there remains the possibility that some form of trade-mark based action could be commenced by the relevant rights-owner."

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Aaron Swartz and the Importance of Open Access

Submitted by Claudia Rebaza on 21 January 2013 - 12:32am

Many readers of this blog will have heard of Aaron Swartz, a hacker and free culture activist whose suicide on January 13 sent shockwaves around the Internet. One of the many things Swartz campaigned for - in fact, the cause that got him in the most trouble in the end - was open access to academic research, a cause near and dear to the OTW in general and its Gold Open Access academic journal Transformative Works and Cultures (TWC) in particular.

I want to take this sad opportunity to say a few words on what open access is and why it's so important for research on fans. Academics who research fans must do their utmost to make sure their work is available for everyone, particularly fans, the very group they're studying; and all fans should have the right to access to research on topics that are relevant to fandom.aron Swartz and open access

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Transformative Works and Cultures

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Spotlight

The Rebellious Pixels Chain of Takedowns

Submitted by Claudia Rebaza on 14 January 2013 - 12:42am

Last week remix artist Jonathan McIntosh had a troubling story to tell which put a spotlight on the current problems facing transformative works creators. In our current environment of automated copyright claims and the layers of entities users may have to go through to assert fair use rights, it takes real dedication sometimes to be heard.

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Legal Advocacy

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OTW Fannews: Technology and Legal Matters

Submitted by Claudia Rebaza on 5 January 2013 - 5:10pm

A piece in the New York Times examined how technology, and those creating it, are censoring the Internet. "The New Yorker found its Facebook page blocked for violating the site’s nudity and sex standards. Its offense: a cartoon of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Eve’s bared nipples failed Facebook’s decency test. That’s right — a venerable publication that still spells “re-elect” as “reëlect” is less puritan than a Californian start-up that wants to “make the world more open.”" The article cites numerous companies at fault, the most influential being Google. "Until recently, even the word “bisexual” wouldn’t autocomplete at Google." While some cases are a matter of cultural conflict, others show corporate influence. "How do you teach the idea of “fair use” to an algorithm?"

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