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I Do Not Own: Difference between revisions
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[[Fanfic]] writers frequently see the need to begin their fiction with statements that look sort of like the page quote. These disclaimers are not only completely useless or even counterproductive from a legal point of view <ref>If what you are doing counts as copyright infringement, then all an "I do not own" disclaimer does is indicate that you ''know'' you are infringing</ref> but also generally redundant, especially if posted on a website like [[Fanfiction.net]] which already includes its own well-written legal disclaimers. It should also be noted some sites require the disclaimers on individual stories in addition to the site-wide disclaimers for some reason.
The origin of this kind of disclaimer comes from a misunderstanding of the reason for copyright law as being concerned with someone [[Plagiarism|taking credit for someone else's work]], and that so long as a fanfic author is explicitly making clear that [[Most Fanfic Writers Are Girls|she]] did not create the characters or setting, then she is not taking credit so not doing any harm. Actual copyright law is concerned with potential loss of revenue to the copyright holder due to the fact that some use of their material is not generating revenue for them. Even if you don't charge for your fanfic, the rights holder can argue that they could have written your story and then charged people for it if your free version wasn't there, so you've still damaged them monetarily.<ref>Note that this is US copyright law. According to [[Canada|Canadian]] copyright law, acknowledging your sources and not charging for your fanfic are two of the four prerequisites for making it legal, under the definition of Fair Dealing in the law as of June 2023.</ref>
The point is, this kind of disclaimer does not really improve your legal situation — A copyright-infringing fanfic with a disclaimer is still copyright-infringing. However, a vast number of rights-holders are generally tolerant of [[Fanfic]] authors simply because (1) having fanfic written helps consolidate the fan community for the original work, or at least (2) most fanfics are not popular enough to dent revenues anywhere near as badly as the bad press of going after a fanfic author would. Being "not worth suing" saves more fanfic authors from legal troubles than the disclaimer does.
In fact, stating you know you are violating copyright can make the situation ''worse''. Copyright law has one level of damages for standard infringement, but triple damages for 'willful infringement', which apply after you have been told you are violating copyright, and you keep distributing copies anyway.{{verify|reason=Presumably this is US copyright law, which does not apply worldwide.}} It is possible that stating you know you're violating copyright could make you ''start'' at willing infringement, if anyone wanted to sue. (On the other hand, the disclaimer also implies you think this is legal, so, paradoxically, it might not be '
Apparently this practice dates back to ''[[Star Trek]]'' fan magazines from the '70s, when studios were worried that the magazines would cut into their profits. Then they remembered [[Sturgeon's Law]].
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* "I own not, you sue not."
* "Disclaimer: Everything is owned by [[Joss Whedon]]." <ref>The only one of Whedon's works that he does own is ''[[Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog]]''.</ref>
** "Joss Is Boss" is pretty popular among fanfics for his work, especially ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]''.
* "I don't own anyone in this story, except for [[Estrogen Brigade Bait|attractive]] [[Draco in Leather Pants|character]] [[Even the Guys Want Him|X]]. He's mine! *[[Glomp]]* ^_^"
* "Disclaimer: I claim dis."
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*** [[Completely Missing the Point|Intentionally.]]
* "All characters are owned by [[Mutant Enemy]] ([[Joss Whedon]]), a wonderfully creative company whose characters I have borrowed for a completely profit-free flight of fancy. Kindly do not sue me, please, as I am terrified of you. Thank you." ([http://www.fanfiction.net/u/122787/Meltha Meltha]'s disclaimer)
* "Joss is Boss" (used on uncountably many ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'' fics)
* "This fic bears no intentional resemblance to any persons living or dead. If I'm doing my job right, it should bear a very great resemblance to persons made up and not owned by me." ([http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3302539/1/Of_All_Time From here.])
* "Don't own, wish I did, no way wish can come true, end of story.....errrr, this story"—from a ''FFVII'' fanfic on aff.n
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"This miserable excuse for an event comic, Amazons Attack, is property of DC Comics. At least it will be until they [[Canon Discontinuity|throw it into the trash and try to pretend it never happened]]." }}
* The installments of [http://tfradio.net/ Radio Free Cyberton's] parody of the Transformers film usually contain this: "Any resemblance to characters owned by Hasbro or Takara is hoped to go unnoticed by their attorneys. All celebrity voices impersonated... obviously." Averted in that they actually used music from the Transformers soundtrack with permission.
* [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4631579/33/Spoiled_Brats Chapter 33] of ''Spoiled Brats'' by DarkFyre99 actually quotes the first paragraph of this article (as it
* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5472899/3/Phantoms_Secret_Diary Phantom's Secret Diary]'' by Anthiena has:
{{quote|Butch Hartman says it was all his idea, so blame him. On the other hand, I think he'd say at least three words you can't say on TV if he saw this fic.}}
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{{quote|'''Post-script to Afterword of''' '''''Deity's Tool''''': By the way, by no means am I trying to get in a fight with [[Nintendo]].}}
* On the poster of ''[[How I Became Yours: Rise of the Agni Army]]'', Jackie Diaz wrote: "...and to all you bitch ass half cocked so called artists on DA, I DON'T OWN AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER(c) or the original characters from it. [[Completely Missing the Point|never said I did]]. The art and fiction from both HIBY stories I do own. read the fine print next time you fucking morons. write about that in your forom because I know you will. And by the way I'm doing better than ever! thanks for the fame!" Class act.
* The description for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLRw8OL8Z8A this] ''[[Bleach]]'' video has the following: ""DISCLAIMER: blah blah blah i don't own bleach, [[Tite Kubo]] does blahhhh if i did, i would've made someone toss a bucket of pink hair dye at ichigo :P"
* ''[[My Immortal]]'' does this many times when [[Waxing Lyrical|quoting song lyrics]].
* Sonic webcomic series Sonic Wrecks has long and detailed copyright disclaimers at the bottom of each comic, filled with shout outs and more jokes tying into the comic itself.
* A [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgCjNVCsFg0& student-made film], parodying ''Angels and Demons'', mentions the plan to immediately file for bankruptcy should any company sue, thus wiping off student loans. It's posted on Youtube (it's in part four).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150502200425/http://adventurers.keenspot.com/d/0336.html This] ''[[Adventurers!]]'' strip: "[[Final Fantasy VIII|Squall]] belongs to Square. [[Take That|They can keep him.]]"
* It was actually averted on ''[[The Gungan Council]]'' until recently, when the podcast added such a notification at the end of each episode.
* From [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5548148/1/Wedlock this] fanfic: Disclaimer: We do not own ''[[Static Shock]]'' or it's characters…and unfortunately, during the move, I broke my coffee pot…so…I DON'T OWN A COFFEE POT EITHER!*cries*
* In the ''[[My Little Pony:
{{quote|"My ponies! Muaahahahah! Mine, all mine! M-my p-ponies! Mine? Please? Maybe one? Just a little one then? How about a background one? Aw dammit. [[Biting the Hand Humor|Selfish Hasbro]]."}}
* From a ''[[Portal (series)|Portal]]'' fanfic "[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7991041/1/SEXY_TIEMUU SEXY TIEMUU]" describing the horrors of ''Portal'' fandom: "Disclaimer: Valve owns Portal, thank God, because look what everyone here would be doing with them if they owned it."
* From a ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' fanfiction, [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6576577/1/Beyond_Family Beyond Family]: "I did not invent most of these characters and can't claim ownership. A large majority of them were created over one hundred years ago and belong to a number of dead Victorian writers (if they do not like what I do to their characters, they are free to haunt me)".
* For a number of ''[[Tin Man (TV series)|Tin Man]]'' fanfictions by [http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2241493/animegus_farmus animegus farmus], there are some rather entertaining disclaimers:
** Disclaimer: I don't own Tin Man. If you have a problem with that, well I'm the person who just passed you giggling incessantly. Don't worry I'm not insane...much.
** Disclaimer: You own what you own, I own what I own, and we agree that we each don't own what the other does own.
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[[Category:Examples Need Sorting]]
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