There's been a lot of talk about Kindle Worlds lately, and the OTW has received some questions about its legal implications. The OTW has long maintained that noncommercial fan fiction is fair use, and Amazon's new program does not change that in any way. It also doesn't change anything about the AO3's continued mission to provide a permanent platform for noncommercial fan fiction. (And don't forget, works on the AO3 are readable on the Kindle and other handheld platforms.)

So should fan writers put their works on Kindle Worlds? That is, of course, up to you. We believe that every author should make up their own mind about whether they want to publish their work on a particular platform. However, we also believe that every person should have a full understanding of the terms they are agreeing to by doing so. We've reviewed the information Amazon has made available to date, and have tried to explain the practical implications in this post.

This is the second in a series of Q&A posts with Graham Reynolds, a Canadian copyright scholar from Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The Q&A focuses on Bill C-11, which went into effect near the end of 2012 and made some significant changes to Canada's Copyright Act, some of which influence the way fanworks are treated under Canadian law. The first post, in which Graham answered questions about the general contours of the law and about the law of "fair dealing", is available here.

The OTW is committed to defending the right to create and distribute fanworks, and our Legal Advocacy project is at the forefront of these efforts.

We're particularly proud of our work on Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) exemptions for makers of noncommercial remix videos such as fan vids, AMVs, and political remix videos. OTW staffers testified before the US Copyright Office in 2009 and 2012 to help win these exemptions, in partnership with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and other like-minded organizations, and we were victorious both times. The noncommercial remix exemption takes away the threat that vidders' works — though transformative, fair uses — would still be considered unlawful under US law because of the way in which they may have acquired their source footage.

We're also gaining a valuable network of allies in the larger free-expression, pro-fair-use activist world. As well as working closely with EFF, we've had positive interactions with groups such as the Documentary Filmmakers' Association and USC-Annenberg's Norman Lear Center.

Volunteers from Legal have also worked on contributing to the Wikipedia page on legal issues in fanfiction to provide a more law-based discussion of fans' rights; advising fans who have received DMCA takedown notifications; and filing amicus briefs in three cases with implications for fans and fanworks.

The Legal committee is also happy to assist fans who have questions regarding non-commercial fanworks. You can contact the Legal committee here.

The OTW is a dedicated champion of fans' rights, with an established track record of success — but there are many battles, large and small, still to be fought. Help us fight those battles — please donate today.

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.