Quote:
Originally Posted by doubleshuffle
I'm just having a little chuckle imagining how Shakespeare is told by his lawyers: "Sorry, but Holinshed's heirs have tripled their demands, Boccaccio's estate is suing over Cymbeline, and someone who claims to be Chaucer's great-great-great-grandson has filed a complaint about Troilus and Cressida."
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And yet...we DO have copyright now. There can be both just and unjust fights over what is a violation of copyright. And yet....more books are written now than ever. Movies are made. Games are made. Theme parks are built. Tv shows are written.
There is no limit on fiction. Either you are trying to write something "original" -- which you'll have no trouble doing. Or you are TRYING to bank on someone else's material. Which you are precluded from doing and SHOULD be...lest you work out an agreement with the rights holder. Which you may or may not be able to do....which is as it should be.
There's a reason people want to create Disney Princess halloween costumes. Sure, you can buy "Sleepy Queen" costume that looks a lot like (but not too much like) Snow White. But Disney has spent billions on making their version of various Princess characters such that there is a demand to be Ariel or Snow White or any other one.
And you can create any monster and call it Frankenstein....but if you want your Frankenstein to look exactly like the one in the movies....you probably have to pay someone. As you should.
It is no small task to not only create a character but create the demand for a character (or story universe).
And, fwiw, there's only value in these characters because everyone CAN'T copy them. If everyone COULD...then the value would quickly evaporate. What people want is to be able to horn in on Disney's built up value....but if they could then everyone could....and then there'd be no value.
Disney can sell Mickey Mouse ears for a profit. If everyone could sell them...then nobody could make any money. (see Android phones)