Fanfic and other original Internet fiction were some of the very first “e-books”, but ever since copyright owners have started paying more attention to the Internet the relationship with fans has sometimes been a thorny one.
Reason TV has a 7.5-minute interview with Rebecca Tushnet, Georgetown University law professor and long-time legal advocate for fanfiction. (She wrote an article for a law journal back in the ‘90s that I believe is one of the first places fanfic was mentioned positively in a legal context.) At the moment, Professor Tushnet is a member of the Organization for Transformative Works, a legal nonprofit dedicated to defending and furthering the cause of fanfic writers.
The interview also touches on some of the problems with today’s extremely-lengthened copyright and restrictive laws like the DMCA. All in all, very interesting viewing.
(Found via Techdirt.)
