Melindaleo: Harry Potter and The Seventh Horcrux. IMP. v1.0 21 September 2007

[DaleDe]

Have you ever heard of Fan Fiction? Here is your chance to find out what it is all about. Some items have so many fans that they spin off a group of people writing their own novels using characters from existing books. The best examples are Star Trek and Harry Potter. I think this is the best or at least one of the best examples of this.

It was written last December long before book 7 appeared and has an entirely different spin on Harry Potter's 7th year. If you haven't yet gotten enough Harry Potter or you would like one with a little more romance (after all he's 18 now) with a great plausible story line you will like this book.

FanFiction writers like feedback so tell her how you liked the book on her web site. http://melindaleo.com/

Here is the permission email I received from Melinda. She indicated that the concern she has is that no one profit by any of her works so the approval is contingent on this condition.

Hi Dale

Sorry it's taken me so long. I really haven't had the time to sit down
and look into this much at all. So far, it seems okay since no one is
making any money. Therefore, I'm going to say okay unless I find out
otherwise, okay?

M

Enjoy,
Dale

I have been requested by the MobileRead management team to remove this link. They are concerned about the legality of FanFic and do not want FanFic books posted on their site. It is their site so I will comply.

I have added a link to my site to download this book. http://users.cwnet.com/dalede/TSH.imp

Dale

[Patricia]

Have you acquired permission from the copyright holder? I've clicked on the website that you cited and it says:

Copyright © 2006, www.melindaleo.com, All Rights Reserved.

[NatCh]

I've set the attachment so that it doesn't appear, if she should grant permission to post it here, it can be released easily enough.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Patricia

Have you acquired permission from the copyright holder? I've clicked on the website that you cited and it says:

Copyright © 2006, www.melindaleo.com, All Rights Reserved.

Yes, I have permission to post this. Melinda's concern is that there can be no money made on any of her work. This is due to the fair use policy that she is using to be able to use Harry Potter characters in her books. The characters themselves are trademarked but fair use permits FanFic stories and books so long as no there is no commercial value.

Dale

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Yes, I have permission to post this. Melinda's concern is that there can be no money made on any of her work. This is due to the fair use policy that she is using to be able to use Harry Potter characters in her books. The characters themselves are trademarked but fair use permits FanFic stories and books so long as no there is no commercial value.

Dale

I respectfully disgree with you, Dale. By using another author's characters one is creating what's called a "derived work", and that requires the permission of the original copyright holder (which is presumably Ms. Rowling in this case). Whether or not commercial gain is involved is irrelevent. As a purely practical matter, I agree with you that publishers will generally turn a "blind eye" to fan fiction, but that doesn't make it legal.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I respectfully disgree with you, Dale. By using another author's characters one is creating what's called a "derived work", and that requires the permission of the original copyright holder (which is presumably Ms. Rowling in this case). Whether or not commercial gain is involved is irrelevent. As a purely practical matter, I agree with you that publishers will generally turn a "blind eye" to fan fiction, but that doesn't make it legal.

I am certainly no lawyer but the FanFic folks seem to be exempt from any attacks and Ms. Rowling has acknowledged this in several interviews. Again it is not my opinion on this that matters. It is a whole collection of folks that seem to embrace this idea and I would guess that it has not specifically gone to court for a ruling so it is likely not illegal so far at least.

My point was that the copyright statement that Melinda enforces and is worried about is the control of her documents in that they do not make any money from it which she and the entire community believes provides protection under the law.

Dale