> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> If I write a story with the characters from Gilligan's Island,
> its my story.
> I own it. It is derivative. I can even distribute it. If I do so
> *for profit*
> I have a problem, but otherwise I'm fine. And even though they
> can tell me
> not to distribute it, *I* still own the story, not them.
You have the right to create such a work, and to make use of it personally.
You do not have the right to distribute it without permission, because it
is derivative. I personally have never bought into Ryan's theory that the
whole work is actually the property of the derived material's owner, so I
think you have some rights to some portions of the material you create, but
that material may or may not be hopelessly entangled with material you do
not have rights to.
'For Profit' has no bearing on the issue. The copyright statutes use
financial gain as one method of assessing damage, but if you make nothing on
the infringing work and it causes tangible damage to the owner of the
infringed material, you could well face serious consequences.
-Brad
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For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
