You don’t own fanfics. They’re inherently public domain because they aren’t your IP. Agree or disagree with AI, there are no grounds for “protection” from AI because it isn’t your IP to begin with. That’s what you chose when you chose this medium
Oh dear.
Okay, you get an answer, because at least you took the effort to write your ask out properly, even if you are hiding behind the grey, sunglassed circle.
Do I, or any fanfic author for that matter, have any legal claims to our work? No, not really, no. (Although if someone took a fic, filed off the serial number–deleted the fandom specific elements–, and then had it published for financial gain, yeah, that would be a case.)
BUT
Fandoms are built on a social contract that says we respect each others work, the effort people put into their art. We don’t steal or disrespect the work of our peers. By feeding people’s fanworks to AI you both steal and disprect it, and we need to make people realize that before it’s too late–before fandom falls apart, because there will be no more real, actual fanworks.
Disrepectfully,
Orlissa
(i can’t believe I have to say this)
Also this is not true. You do in fact have the copyright to the specific writing you did in a fic, because that’s not how copyright law works. Like this is not a grey area.
People who write IP content for corporations give up their copyright on a contractual basis–the company wants writing they can sell about characters/settings they own without getting entangled in royalty obligations etc, so they hire people. Who sign contracts saying they don’t own what they write as part of that job.
That’s why you don’t own Star Wars stuff you wrote for Disney; you specifically agreed not to own it.
Writing for IP you don’t own leaves you in a position where you can’t legally monetize it (without taking out the Owned parts ad rebranding), but it absolutely does not automatically cede or void copyright. That is super not a thing.
SUPER not a thing, I cannot say this enough.
I can’t sell my Batman fic, but neither can DC Comics without my duly authorized consent. Because they own Batman, but not the prose I composed about him.
Do not perform that kind of massive corporate overreach for them. Holy shit. Do they not own enough.
It’s fascinating that this misconception of copyright still exists. Haven’t we all seen the posts on here where authors beg fans to please not send them fanfic of their works? They’re not doing that because they feel like it, they do that because fans legally own their words and ideas, and an author who takes them even unintentionally can in fact end up in real legal trouble for taking something that’s not theirs. It doesn’t matter whether they own the canon.