A word or two about copyrights.

I thought it appropriate to say something about copyrights. This is, after all, a site devoted to work derived from copyrighted materials.

There is still a bit of confusion running amuck in fandom about who can do what with someone elses creation, yadda, yadda, yadda. I don't think this is complicated, but I've heard interpretations that range from infuriatingly brainless to downright amusing.

I too, get a little bent out of shape when I see my graphics floating around cyberspace with nary a link to show the way back to its origin. One place was a blatant rip-off of Pern, they just re-named things like thread and threw in some more critters to have since dragons and flits weren't enough. To top it off (for me anyway) someone there nipped my character's name. How many Hannovas have you met in your life? Color me cranky!

I've stumbled across one Pern site that had an entire page devoted to complaints about nipped artwork, copyright law, and how failure to acknowledge the original artists or link back was nothing short of criminal. This was, by the way, an apparently unauthorized fan-weyr that had nothing but a passing mention of Anne McCaffrey, and absolutely no link to her site.

I was irritated enough to add this page to the Window. This is not the only form of art I do, but it's one that I enjoy. However, if I was told that my site stepped on someone's copyright, I'd take it down.

To learn the nitty gritty about copyright laws, take a look at some these sites. Go on, then - they won't bite!

Oh, and by the by: Pern is copyright to Anne McCaffrey cl967 and The Dragonriders of Pern is a registered trademark. The Harper's Window is a derivative work, not intended as a challenge to her copyright. All artwork contained herein is the work of D.McCoy, unless otherwise specified. Artwork not specific to Pern is copyright to the artist who created it.