http://www.techdirt.com/ Easily digestible tech news.... http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20130521/20101423164/att-says-you-can-use-any-video-streaming-app-you-want-just-as-soon-as-it-can-get-meter-running.shtml#c279 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:50:57 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/blog/wireless/articles/20130521/20101423164/att-says-you-can-use-any-video-streaming-app-you-want-just-as-soon-as-it-can-get-meter-running.shtml#c279 http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml#c150 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:48:18 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml#c150 http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml#c138 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:47:04 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml#c138
That is a paywall.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02350923170/new-bill-would-stop-patent-trolls-hiding-behind-shell-companies.shtml#c280 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:46:46 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02350923170/new-bill-would-stop-patent-trolls-hiding-behind-shell-companies.shtml#c280
How can you possibly expect to sue someone for breaking a patent without actually a) declaring what the patent is (Microsoft pay heed!) and b) saying who has a financial interest (even if it is only to the court officials)?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02350923170/new-bill-would-stop-patent-trolls-hiding-behind-shell-companies.shtml#c271 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:44:11 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/02350923170/new-bill-would-stop-patent-trolls-hiding-behind-shell-companies.shtml#c271 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c199 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:44:06 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c199 The writers are writing the stories simnply for the love of the series/movie, without thought of profit

You don't think that profit motivation will change all that? All of a sudden you will have writers not really interested in the series will be cuing up to churn out material with the hope of a marginal profit.

Money changes everything.

The licensors (tv/movie studios) control the rights, so even if one of these fanfic stories prove good enough to adapt into an episode or film, the studio, not Amazon makes the money on it.

Incorrect. Amazon would hold the rights to the story, and they could then license it to the studio for development. There is nothing that says Amazon would be the ones making movies or whatnot. Why think so narrowly?]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/03160923172/chinese-hacks-google-database-surveillance-targets-highlight-how-dumb-technology-backdoors-are.shtml#c296 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:39:06 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/03160923172/chinese-hacks-google-database-surveillance-targets-highlight-how-dumb-technology-backdoors-are.shtml#c296 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/01382223168/new-york-times-tells-startup-it-cant-even-mention-ny-times.shtml#c920 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:35:15 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/01382223168/new-york-times-tells-startup-it-cant-even-mention-ny-times.shtml#c920 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/01382223168/new-york-times-tells-startup-it-cant-even-mention-ny-times.shtml#c917 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:35:08 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/01382223168/new-york-times-tells-startup-it-cant-even-mention-ny-times.shtml#c917 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/01382223168/new-york-times-tells-startup-it-cant-even-mention-ny-times.shtml#c909 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:33:03 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/01382223168/new-york-times-tells-startup-it-cant-even-mention-ny-times.shtml#c909
Fair use butthurts copyright maniacs. And no, this could be out of fair use - but you refuse to even countenance it unless it's you 'infringing'.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c364 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:31:56 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130521/22543223166/modest-proposal-going-piracy-neutral.shtml#c364 http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/01382223168/new-york-times-tells-startup-it-cant-even-mention-ny-times.shtml#c893 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:30:53 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/01382223168/new-york-times-tells-startup-it-cant-even-mention-ny-times.shtml#c893
Of course, some lorem ipsum might be safer, if less good as an illustration, especially if your point is precisely "we can generate this for 1% of the resources, why are you paying those cowboys?".

And I'll sympathise more with papers the day they pay people who feature in their stories for the stories they write. (Which of course would be wrong in many cases.)]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c191 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:25:43 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c191
Star Wars (unlike Star Trek) kept a tighter control on continuity and used already-published authors.
Trek (primarily Pocket Books) used fanfic writers and stated that, except for adaptations of movies & TV episodes, the stories weren't canonical.
Pity since some authors, like comics scribe Peter David, did first-rate material that deserves to be part of the overall Trek Universes (Yes, it's plural).]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c189 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:24:59 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c189
If it was instead a license or something similar, where Amazon was legally allowed to act as seller, but the author still retained all other rights over the story, I wouldn't consider that too bad of a deal, it's just as-is writers would basically be handing over the rights to their works for nothing more than the potential of profit in the future.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c180 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:24:46 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c180 http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/sara-sheridan/writers-earnings-cultural-myth_b_3136859.html

Your argument is invalid.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/03160923172/chinese-hacks-google-database-surveillance-targets-highlight-how-dumb-technology-backdoors-are.shtml#c286 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:24:16 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/03160923172/chinese-hacks-google-database-surveillance-targets-highlight-how-dumb-technology-backdoors-are.shtml#c286
"Do you want to play a game?"]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130519/18102623141/so-its-come-to-this-seven-high-school-students-arrested-throwing-water-balloons.shtml#c1991 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:20:13 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130519/18102623141/so-its-come-to-this-seven-high-school-students-arrested-throwing-water-balloons.shtml#c1991
We could just as equally say "calling the cops and making harmless fun an arrestable offence is just the kind of overreach that content controllors and copywrong maximalists and patent trolls buy laws for".]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c158 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:20:12 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c158
Quite frankly, a good 3/4 of Star Trek novels are just fanfic with the "naughty bits" expunged.
Yet they sell.

(Star Wars has a better track record of using profesional authors and maintaining continuity.)]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130519/18102623141/so-its-come-to-this-seven-high-school-students-arrested-throwing-water-balloons.shtml#c1982 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:17:15 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130519/18102623141/so-its-come-to-this-seven-high-school-students-arrested-throwing-water-balloons.shtml#c1982
Yes people go too far with political correctness. But there is still so far to go. It's just getting the balance right.]]> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c154 Thu, 23 May 2013 05:15:29 PDT http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130522/11301723178/amazon-wants-to-sell-fan-fiction-with-it-originator-fanfic-author-all-sharing-profits.shtml#c154
As usual, ass with no brain, you're wrong.
The writers are writing the stories simnply for the love of the series/movie, without thought of profit (as hard as it is for a copyright maximalist like you to believe).
Amazon has simply come up with a way for the studios and writers to make money!

"Perhaps they are a facilitator for the moment, but that will likely turn to greed if one of the works gets developed into an actual TV episode or movie."

The licensors (tv/movie studios) control the rights, so even if one of these fanfic stories prove good enough to adapt into an episode or film, the studio, not Amazon makes the money on it.
Amazon only makes money on copies of the stories sold through it.]]>