Legal Question in Entertainment Law in Illinois

Is this a copyright violation?

I have a character creation document--basically a fill in the blank form to aid in creating fictional characters--based on a section from a writing reference book. Originally, I simply typed in the questions as they were from the book for my personal use. After e-mailing the author of the book for permission to post this document to a free e-mail group about writing, the author said the rights belonged to the publisher, and that it would be a copyright infringement. With that in mind, I returned to the document and reformatted a number of sections, removed an entire section, changed the questions, and added a number of new questions. At what point does this document become postable to the e-mail list? The newly formatted document is a shadow of its former self, with some category and a few question similarities.


Asked on 6/15/01, 3:11 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bruce Burdick Burdick Law Firm

Re: Is this a copyright violation?

Probably not a violation.

Your problem is one of derivation. A copyright not only protects against direct copying, which your changes sound like they avoid, but also against works which are derivations of the original work. You talk of using the original work as a base and changing many things to develop a largely different appearing work. However, doing the creation in this was at least gives an argument that it is a derivation. Starting from scratch avoids a derivation claim. "Derivation" in a copyright sense is a fact intensive matter, and you would be best served by consulting with a copyright lawyer, who could probably in short order give you a pretty good opinion on whether your work is legally a derivation of the work from which is was admittedly "derived." Actual derivation does not necessarily constitute legal derivation in violation of the copyright law.

Look to my website www.burdlaw.com and click on copyrights for some links to excellent resources that can help you understand what is meant by derivation in a copyright sense.

You have complicated the issue by consulting the author, which increases the chance that he or she will make a claim against you. In view of that, I recommend you consult a copyright lawyer for advice.

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Answered on 6/28/01, 5:15 pm


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