Legal Analysis

There have been a number of articles in law reviews and legal publications addressing various fanwork-related issues, beginning with fan fiction and gradually expanding to other fanworks.

This is a bibliography, with links to the full articles where available, in chronological order by year, alphabetical by author within the year. The citation format is close to Bluebook.

1992

Rosemary Coombe, Author/izing the Celebrity: Publicity Rights, Postmodern Politics, and Unauthorized Genders, 10 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L.J. 365 (1992)[1]

1997

Rebecca Tushnet, Legal Fictions: Copyright, Fan Fiction and a New Common Law, 17 Loy. L.A. Ent. L.J. 651 (1997)[2]

1998

Erika S. Koster & Jim Shatz-Akin, Set Phasers on Stun: Handling Internet Fan Sites, 15 No. 1 Computer Law. 18 (1998)[3]

1999

Justin Hughes, Recoding Intellectual Property and Overlooked Audience Interest, 77 Tex. L. Rev. 923 (1999)[4]

2001

Jessica Elliott, Copyright Fair Use and Private Ordering: Are Copyright Holders and the Copyright Law Fanatical For Fansites?, 11 DePaul-LCA J Art & Ent. L. 329 (2001)

Deborah Tussey, From Fan Sites to File Sharing: Personal Use in Cyberspace, 35 Ga. L. Rev. 1129 (2001)

2003

Meredith McCardle, Fandom, Fan Fiction and Fanfare: What's All the Fuss?, 9 B.U. J. Sci. & Tech. L. 443 (2003)[5]

Sean Kirkpatrick, Like Holding a Bird: What the Prevalence of Fansubbing Can Teach Us About the Use of Strategic Selective Copyright Enforcement, 21 Temple Envir. L. & Tech. J. 131 (2003)

Cecilia Ogbu, I Put Up a Website About My Favorite Show and All I Got Was This Lousy Cease-and-Desist Letter: The Intersection of Fan Sites, Internet Culture, and Copyright Owners, 12 S. Cal. Interdisc. L.J. 279 (2003)[6]

2004

Simone Murray, “Celebrating the Story the Way It Is”: Cultural Studies, Corporate Media, and the Contested Utility of Fandom, 18 Continuum: J. Media & Cult. Studies 7 (2004)

2005

Matthew Brett Freedman, Machinima and Copyright Law, 13 J. of Intellectual Property Law 235 (Fall 2005)

Krissi J. Geary-Boehm, Cyber Chaos: The Clash Between Band Fansites and Intellectual Property Holders, 30 S. Ill. L.J. 87 (2005)[7]

Jordan Hatcher, Of Otakus and Fansubs: A Critical Look at Anime Online in Light of Current Issues in Copyright Law, 2 Script-ED 551 (2005)[8]

Sean Leonard, Celebrating Two Decades of Unlawful Progress: Fan Distribution, Proselytization Commons, and the Explosive Growth of Japanese Animation, 12 UCLA Entertainment L. Rev. (2005)[9]

Leanne Stendell, Comment, Fanfic and Fan Fact: How Current Copyright Law Ignores the Reality of Copyright Owner and Consumer Interests in Fan Fiction, 58 SMU L. Rev. 1551 (2005)

2006

Sonia Katyal, Performance, Property, and the Slashing of Gender in Fan Fiction, 14 J. Gender, Social Policy, & Law 463 (2006)[10]

Jaime E. Muscar, A Winner is Who? Fair Use and the Online Distribution of Manga and Video Game Fan Translations, 9 Vanderbilt J. of Entertainment and Technology Law 223 (2006)[11]

Mollie E. Nolan, Search for Original Expression: Fan Fiction and the Fair Use Defense, 30 Southern Illinois L.J. 533 (Spring 2006)[12]

Christina Z. Ranon, Honor Among Thieves: Copyright Infringement in Internet Fandom, 8 Vanderbilt J. of Entertainment and Technology Law 421 (Spring 2006)[13]

Note, "Recoding" and the Derivative Works Entitlement: Addressing the First Amendment Challenge, 119 Harv. L. Rev. 1488 (2006)[14]

2007

Anupam Chander & Madhavi Sunder, Everyone's a Superhero: A Cultural Theory of 'Mary Sue' Fan Fiction as Fair Use, 95 Cal. L. Rev. 597 (2007)[15]

Ernest Chua, Fan Fiction and Copyright: Mutually Exclusive, Able to Coexist or Something Else?, 14 eLaw Journal 215 (2007)[16]

Jacqueline Lai Chung, Drawing Idea from Expression: Creating a Legal Space for Culturally Appropriated Literary Characters, 49 Wm. and Mary L. Rev. 903 (2007)[17]

Andrew S. Long, Mashed Up Videos and Broken Down Copyright: Changing Copyright To Promote the First Amendment Values of Transformative Video, 60 Okla. L. Rev. 317 (2007)[18]

Rebecca Tushnet, Payment in Credit: Copyright Law and Subcultural Creativity, 70 L & Contemp. Problems 135 (2007)[19], and responses by Jessica Litman, Creative Reading, 70 L & Contemp. Problems 175 (2007)[20], and Mark Lemley, Should a Licensing Market Require Licensing?, 70 L & Contemp. Problems 185 (2007)[21]

2008

Joshua M. Daniels, "Lost in Translation”: Anime, Moral Rights, and Market Failure, 88 B.U. L. Rev. 709 (2008)[22]

Casey Fiesler, Everything I Need to Know I Learned From Fandom: How Existing Social Norms Can Help Shape the Next Generation of User-Generated Content, 10 Vanderbilt J. Ent. & Tech. L. 729 (2008)[23]

Christina J. Hayes, Changing the Rules of the Game: How Video Game Publishers Are Embracing User-Generated Derivative Works, 21 Harvard J. L. & Tech. (2008)[24]

Edward Lee, Warming Up to User-Generated Content, U. Ill. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2008)[25]

Nathaniel T. Noda, When Holding On Means Letting Go: Why Fair Use Should Extend to Fan-Based Activities, 5 U. Denver Sports & Ent. L.J. (2008)[26] (note that logging in as guest may be required to view)

Sarah Trombley, Visions and Revisions: Fanvids and Fair Use, 25 Cardozo Arts & Ent. J. 647 (2008)[27]

Rebecca Tushnet, User-Generated Discontent: Transformation in Practice, 31 Colum. J.L. & Arts 110 (2008)[28]

2009

Steven A. Hetcher, Using Social Norms to Regulate Fan Fiction and Remix Culture, 157 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1869 (2009)[29]

Elizabeth F. Judge, Kidnapped and Counterfeit Characters: Eighteenth-Century Fan Fiction, Copyright Law, and the Custody of Fictional Characters, in Originality and Intellectual Property in the French and English Enlightenment, ed. Reginald McGinnis (Routledge, 2009), chap. 2, 22–68[30]

Christopher Reid, Fair Game: The Application of Fair Use Doctrine to Machinima, 19 Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Ent. L.J. 831 (2009)[31]

Megan Richardson & David Tan, The Art of Retelling: Harry Potter and Copyright in a Fan-Literature Era, 14 Media & Arts L. Rev. 31 (2009)[32]

Aaron Schwabach, The Harry Potter Lexicon and the World of Fandom: Fan Fiction, Outsider Works, and Copyright, 70 U. Pitt. L. Rev. (2009)[33]

Shira Siskind, Crossing the Fair Use Line: The Demise and Revival of the Harry Potter Lexicon and Its Implications for the Fair Use Doctrine in the Real World and on the Internet, 27 Cardozo Arts & Ent. L.J. 291 (2009)[34]

2010

Emily Chaloner, A Story of Her Own: A Feminist Critique of Copyright Law, 6 I/S: J. L. & Pol'y for Info. Soc'y 221 (2010)

Brian Link, Drawing a Line in Alternate Universes: Exposing the Inadequacies of the Current Four-Factor Fair Use Test through Chanslash, 33 T. Jefferson L. Rev. 139 (2010). Note: Unlike the majority of the works cited, the author proposes to cut down on fair use for fan fiction, and in particular argues that chanslash--that is, sexually explicit work featuring underage characters engaged in homosexual acts--should not be fair use because it "mutilates" the original work. The author uses chanslash specifically, not chan, but does not explain why chanslash is more offensive than heterosexual chan; the article does not acknowledge the existence of non-slash chan.

Jacqueline D. Lipton, Copyright’s Twilight Zone: Digital Copyright Lessons from the Vampire Blogosphere, 70 Maryland L. Rev. (2010) [35]

Patrick McKay, Culture of the Future: Adapting Copyright Law to Accommodate Fan-Made Derivative Works in the Twenty-First Century, 24 Regent U. L. Rev. 117 (2010) [36]

Nathaniel T. Noda, Copyrights Retold: How Interpretive Rights Foster Creativity and Justify Fan-Based Activities, 20 Seton Hall J. Sports & Entertainment L. 131 (2010)[37]

Rachel L. Stroude, Comment, Complimentary Creation: Protecting Fan Fiction as Fair Use, 14 Marquette Intell. Prop. L. Rev. 191 (2010) [38]

Melissa L. Tatum, Robert Spoo and Benjamin Pope, Does Gender Influence Attitudes Toward Copyright in the Filk Community?, 18 Am. U. J. Gender Soc. Pol'y & L. 219 (2010)[39]

2011

Choe, Michael, The Problem of the Parody-Satire Distinction: Fair Use in Machinima & Other Fan Created Works, 37 Rutgers Computer & Tech. L.J. 93 (2011).

Stacey M. Lantagne, The Better Angels of our Fanfiction: The Need for True and Logical Precedent, 33 Hastings Comm. & Ent. L.J. 159 (2011).

Jacqueline D. Lipton, Moral rights and supernatural fiction: authorial dignity and the new moral rights agendas. 21 Fordham Intell. Prop. Media & Ent. L.J. 537 (2011).[40]

Nathaniel T. Noda, Perpetuating Cultures: What Fan-Based Activities Can Teach Us About Intangible Cultural Property, 44 Creighton L. Rev. 429 (2011).[41]

Aaron Schwabach, Fan Fiction and Copyright: Outsider Works and Intellectual Property Protection (Ashgate 2011)

2012

Michelle Chatelain, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Copyright Law, 15 Tulane J Tech & Intel. Prop. 199 (2012).

2013

Mariko A. Foster, Parody's Precarious Place: The Need To Legally Recognize Parody as Japan's Cultural Property, 23 Seton Hall J. Sports & Ent. L. 313 (2013)

Danielle Meeks, Fifty Shades of Transformation, 3 Pace L.P. Sports & Ent. L.F. 1 (2013). [42]

Teresa Scassa, Acknowledging Copyright’s Illegitimate Offspring: User-Generated Content and Canadian Copyright Law [43], in The Copyright Pentalogy: How the Supreme Court of Canada Shook the Foundations of Canadian Copyright Law (Michael Geist ed. 2013).[44]