Did German Copyright Law Really Kill A Fan Fiction Film?
from the time-to-update-your-laws dept
The concept of "fan fiction" represents an interesting challenge for copyright law. Most copyright laws don't take into account the idea of fans creating new works involving characters or worlds that they like -- as such a thing just wasn't practical until recently. However, thanks to the rise of tools that make the creation of creative works easier than ever before, it's become a bigger and bigger question. In Germany, the problem has been highlighted by fans of the board game Warhammer 40,000 who spent time and money to create a fan film based on the game. Unfortunately, thanks to German copyright law, the film can not be shown. Apparently, they can't just say it's okay without losing all rights to the Warhammer brand. Basically, according to the article the company can assign the copyright to another party, but it's a complete assignment, meaning that the game maker no longer has those rights any more. This sounds quite strange, as it's hard to see how any copyright law (or trademark law) would function properly if you can't license things selectively for specific purposes. The gamemaker apparently feels bad about the result, and doesn't seem to mind the idea of the fan film, but claims that under the law, it can't allow the film to proceed. This seems to clearly go against the very point of copyright law, which shouldn't require the holder of a copyright to ban its use in other cases. If there's someone out there who can explain the specifics of German copyright law, that would be great -- as the story doesn't make much sense. Can there really be no licensing of content without assigning the entire copyright? If that's truly the case, then hopefully people will realize it's time to update copyright law to take into account our more modern communications infrastructure. Update: In the comments someone with a familiarity in German copyright law suggests that the company needs to find a new copyright lawyer -- as it should be able to allow this movie to go forward.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: copyright law, fan fiction
Companies: warhammer
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Maybe it's a trademark issue?
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Re: Maybe it's a trademark issue?
That was my initial thought too, but the article clearly states that it's a copyright issue.
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This sounds more like a case of poorly worded laws. For sure, the intent seems to be different than the effect.
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No control not right
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On a side point Warhammer 40,000 isn't a "board game" it's a turn based "tabletop game" where players or "hobbyists" assemble and paint minitures to play with. ie kinda army-men with a rich backstory and ruleset including statlines for the different models etc to put it simply.
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'defend' a trademark
"Well, may we have your permission then?"
"...uhhhhm... yes?"
Defending a trademark doesn't mean you have to deny all use of your trademark. For example rather than the usual cease and desist letter, Linden Labs granted getafirstlife.com "a nonexclusive, nontransferable, nonsublicenseable, revocable, limited license to use the modified eye-in-hand logo".
I'm not sure how different things are under German law, however..
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Someone is confused
Urheberrecht states that whoever created a work of art (or design or media or whatever) has certain rights she can not give away.
However, one can give "Nutzungslizenzen" (usage licenses) to someone: They right to use that art or media or design for certain purposes, such as making money with it.
That's what happens when you write a book: You are, and will always be the author of that book, but you can grant the publisher the rights to publish it and collect money for the publication.
Those rights can be exclusive or non-exclusive, limited or unlimited (regional, temporal, etc.).
So, of course, the game publisher could give a non-exclusive right to create a movie to the fans, they can even state that it is explicitly forbidden for the fans to make any money with it.
I really don't see why the publsiher should have any problems - except in finding a better lawyer.
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Re: Someone is confused
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Money grubbing corporate scum!
I am also surprised Mike missed this opportunity to educate budding film producers that might be reading this by explaining how giving away the fan film to the company in charge of the copyright would enhance their career by getting their work out there.
And Mike, the principle behind this is not new, it has existed since the first days of printing, which pre-date copyright laws by a good bit; only the technique is new.
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Fan fiction is new?
Huh? Fan fiction has been around for as long as popular culture has existed. Laws didn't address it because it didn't seem like a threat to copyright holders until the internet allowed fans to spread their works widely to other fans.
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An error in the article...
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Warhammer Gold
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smith
Warhammer Gold
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