Funnily enough, your impression is exactly how they're presenting themselves. It isn't until you dig into the Q&A and ToS that you realize that it's something else entirely.
The bigger issue, I think, is that clearly the site is aimed at commercial end of genre works (which it should be), and that the sight is geared to protecting existing copyrights (again, not an issue). The issue is that they are expecting fan writers to prove no-strings-attached free content that FanLib can use and edit however it sees fit, up to an including earning profit off that free content.
It's the profit part that's the real sticking point, not to mention the fact that upon putting the work up on FanLib's site, they "own" the rights to that story (unless they're challenged, in which case it, and the liability immediately reverts back to the writer).
The legal theory they're working on for FanLib has not been proven in the U.S. In other countries (i.e., Japan) copyright is interpreted differently and fanfiction isn't in quite the same grey area that it is in the U.S. and is considered semi-legit fair use.
Not too many people involved with fanfiction in the U.S. really want to push the issue, given the state of copyright law enforcement in the U.S. In the current atmosphere, I think most people know that fanfic would lose in a push-comes-to-shove context, even if the writers were making no profit off there work.
On the third front, it's pretty clear that FanLib did not do its homework. It made certain assumptions about fanfic writers that are untrue. Most of the ones I know about range from 20s to 50s, hold down professional jobs or have some kind of professional training, tend to be fairly well-educated, and are overwhelmingly women. There are even university studies in fanthropology showing this. The information actually exists and is out there.
Yet the pitch seems to be geared to: boys, young girls, and people with little life experience.
Worse, when legitimate concerns are brought up with the FanLib owners (who are all male, btw) we're treated as if were a bunch of junior high school girls who are worrying our pretty little heads over nothing. That's infuriating.
no subject
The bigger issue, I think, is that clearly the site is aimed at commercial end of genre works (which it should be), and that the sight is geared to protecting existing copyrights (again, not an issue). The issue is that they are expecting fan writers to prove no-strings-attached free content that FanLib can use and edit however it sees fit, up to an including earning profit off that free content.
It's the profit part that's the real sticking point, not to mention the fact that upon putting the work up on FanLib's site, they "own" the rights to that story (unless they're challenged, in which case it, and the liability immediately reverts back to the writer).
The legal theory they're working on for FanLib has not been proven in the U.S. In other countries (i.e., Japan) copyright is interpreted differently and fanfiction isn't in quite the same grey area that it is in the U.S. and is considered semi-legit fair use.
Not too many people involved with fanfiction in the U.S. really want to push the issue, given the state of copyright law enforcement in the U.S. In the current atmosphere, I think most people know that fanfic would lose in a push-comes-to-shove context, even if the writers were making no profit off there work.
On the third front, it's pretty clear that FanLib did not do its homework. It made certain assumptions about fanfic writers that are untrue. Most of the ones I know about range from 20s to 50s, hold down professional jobs or have some kind of professional training, tend to be fairly well-educated, and are overwhelmingly women. There are even university studies in fanthropology showing this. The information actually exists and is out there.
Yet the pitch seems to be geared to: boys, young girls, and people with little life experience.
Worse, when legitimate concerns are brought up with the FanLib owners (who are all male, btw) we're treated as if were a bunch of junior high school girls who are worrying our pretty little heads over nothing. That's infuriating.