FANFICTION V COPYRIGHT – STRIKING A BALANCE

- Hari Prakash K V
BC0150006
Third Year B.Com LLB (Hons.)

REFERENCES

1. Bailey Gribben, FANFICTION: A LEGAL BATTLE OF CREATIVITY,

https://reporter.rit.edu/views/fanfiction-legal-battle-creativity
2. Robert Wood, Make Sure Your Fan Fiction is Legal

ABSTRACT

From the beginning of humanity, people have found ways to tell stories to each other. Cave
drawings depict scenes of the hunt, symbols used to mark property, tales to teach morality to
tribe members. In the modern times, nations have recognized the need to protect creative efforts
of authors. The authors are granted protection for their creations. It is easier now for the fans
to take the Internet to proclaim their love of characters or frustration with plot lines. Fans now
write their own versions of their favourite television shows, movies and books. While this
writing is often an expression of admiration for a particular work, it may run afoul of the
protections granted to the original author. Fanfiction writers, through their love of a work, may
actually be doing harm to the characters that they love.The entire regime of copyright protects
the novel ideas that are expressed by a person from being indiscriminately used or copied by
others. However, the fantasy one has to his favourite comic book character or a film hero may
prompts him to write and tell his own version of the same to the others and he expresses his
love for his favourite character in his own way. Is this violative of copyright norms laid down
in the Indian Copyright Act of 1957? But on the other side, when a fan expresses himself in
his own words how can it be said that such an act is violative of copyright? Indeed the fan
himself is using his ideas on developing a character. The Copyright regime all around the world
has tried to strike a balance between fan fiction and copyright protection. However, the issue
is far from resolved yet. The said research project is aimed at bringing a new perspective on
the conflict and tries to resolve the same.
 RESEARCH PLAN

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:

The project tries to resolve the age old conflict between the conventional copyright norms
and fan fiction. In the due course, the project will dwell into various aspects of the copyright
regime in the Country drawing necessary parallels from various International Conventions
and global jurisprudence and analyses how a feasible solution can be arrived at serving the
interests of both the parties involved in the conflict?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

1. Whether fan fiction are violative of copyright norms?

2. To what extent can fan fiction be protected?
3. Whether the orthodox copyright norms are being threatened due to amateur artists?

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

3. WHAT IS A FAN FICTION?

4. WHERE DOES THE CONFLICT ARISE?
5. HOW TO STRIKE A BALANCE?

TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION: