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Originally Posted by speakingtohe
I don't participate on GoodReads, I just use it to get info. but I find this discussion strangely interesting. Also a tad odd, but then so am I 
Forgive me if I am totally ignorant, but I have a couple of questions and comments.
I have tried reading fanfic but didn't care for it. Probably I have read bad fanfic and there is some great stuff out there, but I just didn't get it.
My understanding is that it is often published without the authors permission making it a bit iffy IMO. Still if not done for profit, is it illegal, I don't know. My understanding is that unless it is legal and copyrighted it is kind of fair game as long as it is attributed. |
The subject of fanfic being legal is a separate issue. Even if that were the case (not saying it is) and the fanfic isn't officially copyrighted, it does not mean that the published author did not commit plagiarism.
Dear Author had a good post describing the differences between copyright infringement, plagiarism, etc.
As another example, most of the passages Cassie Edwards used were from books in the public domain. So while she wasn't guilty of copyright infringement for most, she was guilty of plagiarism. Just because something isn't under copyright doesn't mean another author can take it and pass it off as their own words.