Timeline of Fanwork Copyright and Legality Meta

This page lists meta and other written discussion about copyright and legality regarding fanworks, arranged in chronological order.

Also see Timeline of Fandom and Profit Meta.

1978

• Copyright: at the moment we are stuck with what the Library of Congress says by Jean Lorrah

1980

• The Quest for Legitimacy: Copyright Practices and Possible Infringement in Fan Fiction by Carol Mularski

1981

• Copyright: Can Fan Writing be Afforded Protection as "Literature?" by Melinda M. Snodgrass
• Open Letters to Star Wars Zine Publishers (1981) by Maureen Garrett
• Fandom vs The Courts: Fan Fiction and Fair Use by Judith Gran

1982

• By Any Other Name by Kathleen B. Retz and Catherine A. Siebert

1992

• Marion Zimmer Bradley Fanfiction Controversy
• A Matter Of Willful Copyright Infringement by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
• I'm about to bring the cold, cruel, mundane world into our fun for a moment by Mercedes Lackey

1993

• GIFS and Scanned Images: Copyright issues by Mel White

1997

• Legal Fictions: Copyright, Fan Fiction, and a New Common Law by A.T. Lee.

1998

• 10 Big Myths about copyright explained, ^{Archived version} ("An attempt to answer common myths about copyright seen on the net and cover issues related to copyright and USENET/Internet publication.") by Brad Templeton (1998?)

1999

• Fan Fiction and Copyright by Judy Gran
• In Whose Back Yard? by Judy Gran
• It's Not Wise to Upset a Wookiee: LFL and Internet Copyright Issues by David R. Phillips
• Copyright, by spike (June 24, 1999)

2000

• Copy Catfight: How intellectual property laws stifle popular culture by Jesse Walker
• ALL fanfiction violates copyright. by Flamingo
• Xena (The Warrior Princess), P.T. Barnum (The Humbug Prince), and Copyrights by Virginia Carper
• OHNONONONONONONONONO!!!!, fan discussion at alt.tv.x-files.creative (2000)

2001

• Fan Fiction, Novels, Copyright, and Ethics by Michela Ecks
• Fan Fiction is Protected by Copyright Law! by Patchmonkey (2000 or 2001)

2002

• Copyright, fair use, and complications far beyond the ken of mortal man.... by Mercedes Lackey

2004

• Interrogating the text from the wrong perspective by Anne Rice

2005

• The Fan Fiction Rant by Robin Hobb

2006

• Fan fic - sí! Public Domain - sí-sí-sí!!! by P.N. Elrod
• The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle by Avocado
• “Fanfic”: force of nature by Teresa Nielsen Hayden
• And then I said stuff. by liviapenn

2007

• A little Friday night meta. by nutkin
• Transforming how we think about fiction… and copyright by Ethan Zuckerman

2008

• Friction over Fan Fiction: Is this Burgeoning Art Form Legal? (2008)

2010

• Fan-Fiction and Moral Conundrums by Diana Gabaldon
• I’m done explaining why fanfic is okay. by bookshop
• The Heretic Loremaster » Fan Fiction Is Fiction, ^{Archived version}
• discussion on Fandom Wank (many links are broken)
• An open letter to professionally-published authors who despise fanfic of their own works by Kate Nepveu
• Novelist Diana Gabaldon causes fanfic furor, ^{Archived version} by Chris Meadows
• I think it’s immoral, I know it’s illegal, and it makes me want to barf., ^{Archived version}, MetaFilter
• Author Pokes Fanfic Hive! Film at 11!, ^{Archived version} by John Scalzi
• The Time Has Come to Talk of Many Things: Genre, The Internet & Stories, by Sarah Rees Brennan
• Someone is Angry On the Internet by George R. R. Martin
• Lady Diana Starts a Sh*t Storm, ^{Archived version} by Eddie Louise
• oh Diana Gabaldon no, archive page one; archive page two by sheafrotherdon
• Author Pokes Fanfic Hive! Film at 11!, by John Scalzi
• Diana Gabaldon & fanfic followup, ^{Archived version} by Kate Nepveu
• Professional Writers vs. The People Who Love Their Work, Round Umpty-Snout by thefourthvine
• My take on the "Pro Authors Who Don't Like Fanfic" rants... by rap541

2011

• Fans, Copyright, and Marketing by Hell's Half Acre
• Culture of the Future: Adapting Copyright Law to Accommodate Fan-Made Derivative Works in the Twenty-First Century (December 2011)
• Creativity in Common: Fandom and the Ownership of Ideas (2011 or 2012?)

2016

• FFA: Fic-tipping, archive link (2016)
• Lantagne, Stacey M. 2016. When Real People Become Fictional: The Collusion of Trademark, Copyright, and Publicity Rights in Online Stories About Celebrities. Journal of Law, Technology & the Internet, Vol. 7. pp. 39–78.
• 10 Copyright Cases Every Fan Fiction Writer Should Know About, ^{Archived version} by David Kluft (2016)

2017

• Okay, some fandom history, why show writers and authors say "for legal reasons" they can't read fan fic. (May 2017)

2018

• Omegaverse Litigation (2018-2020)
• There should be a site for fandom history that isn't fanlore that explains the history of fanfiction/art, what copyright is and why we don't sell these things., ^{Archived version} by Ginny O. (August 2018)