I recently spoke with someone who stated, with no room for argument, that fanfiction is illegal after I referred to it as a "grey area".
I admit I have no idea how US law handles this, but as a trained lawyer I can assure you that according to at least German law fanfiction is completely legal, as long as you don't claim the characters as your own and don't make money off it. Same with "I sing my favourite song on YouTube" or "I make fanart from pictures of actor/singer/movie xyz".
Maybe Diana Gabaldon is just a little scared that the fanfic writers have better writing skills than she does? ;P
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sforzinda
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Date: 2010-05-04 07:10 pm (UTC)I admit I have no idea how US law handles this, but as a trained lawyer I can assure you that according to at least German law fanfiction is completely legal, as long as you don't claim the characters as your own and don't make money off it. Same with "I sing my favourite song on YouTube" or "I make fanart from pictures of actor/singer/movie xyz".
Maybe Diana Gabaldon is just a little scared that the fanfic writers have better writing skills than she does? ;P