Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Re: Copyrighting the ideas

The answer to your question depends on how original your own story is. Just because it uses characters or themes from other copyrighted materials does not mean you would not be entitled to protect your own original work. Obviously it becomes more difficult to establish originality when a new work relies heavily on pre-existing works. Consult a copyright attorney before submitting any copyright registration applications or exploiting your work commercially to ensure that you do not inadvertently commit copyright infringement or violate other intellectual property rights of third parties.

The above reply is in the nature of general information, does not constitute legal advice and should not be relied on as such.

Re: Copyrighting the ideas

The rule of thumb is simple: ideas can't be copyrighted, specific words can.

There are ways to properly protect a synopsis or plot memorandum. If you'd like to discuss them, please feel free to get in touch.

Re: Copyrighting the ideas

Copyright protects the tangible expression of an idea or set of ideas. It does NOT protect an idea until the idea is affixed in a tangible medium (book, computer file, something perceptible).

I'm not sure I understand your question exactly. If you're asking whether you can license your HARRY POTTER fanfiction story, the answer is almost certainly not. If you're asking whether you can license your new story about Jo March (Louisa May Alcott), the answer is almost certainly yes, since that copyright expired and Jo is in the public domain.

Fan fiction of the sort found on the internet isn't well protected, since it's an unlicensed derivative work based on a copyrighted original.

To LEGALLY produce new stories in an existing story line where copyright is attached, you would need to license the use of the characters from the original author (or license holder). Internet fan fiction probably isn't strictly legal, but it is tolerated for the publicity it provides to the characters (i.e., it's actually quite good for the book-and-movie businesses).

Hope this helps.

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. THIS POSTING DOES NOT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.

Re: Copyrighting the ideas

Look at it this way. The Walt Disney Company lobbyed the paint off the wall in Congress to get them to pass laws that would extend copyright protection to Mickey Mouse. That's a big clue as to how much value they put on certain characters. So the answer to the character part of your question is no, unless as the last response indicates the character is no longer protected by copyright. As to ideas and stories the other responses are sufficient.