|
|
Post by cloisterbell on Mar 10, 2008 17:31:52 GMT -5
Hi there! New to the forum, but thought everyone might be interested in what happened to me when I tried to do exactly what Tractator has done. I decided I wanted to do something new for my own site and novelised both ROSE and THE END OF THE WORLD with the intention of giving them away as FREE downloads. Within 10 days of putting them up, I got an e-mail from BBC Wales telling me to take them off as I was infringing their & RTD's script copyright. I did so, hoping to resolve the situation amicably, but they were unwilling to budge on the subject and have barred me from publishing either elsewhere (which would include here). No reason was given apart from the script copyright issue, and funnily enough no mention was made that I'd infringed image copyright using screen grabs of Billie and Chris Eccleston on the cover. I'd already novelised everything else upto and including DALEK so I could add a book a month to the site, but sadly this has had to stop - at least for the time being. I'm busy with other stuff at the moment, but hope to get a copy of the two published books to RTD and get a reversal of the position at some point. You can read the full story of what happened to me on my site at www.targetonlinebooks.co.uk and if anyone's interested in the unpublished novels then please e-mail me. Meanwhile, best wishes to everybody else who attempts this sort of thing, but be warned - they could come after you too. |
|
tractator
Brigadier
Currently reading State Of Change
Posts: 144
|
Post by tractator on Mar 12, 2008 13:20:47 GMT -5
Thanks for warning me, mate.
I think the word "YIKES!" kinda sums it up. :-(
Just goes to show, though, that even with the most charitable of intentions, its very easy to put a foot wrong and fall foul of copyright issues.
One thing that I'd love to know, though... I'm sure that like me your intention was just simply to add to the vast number of TV serialisations that have been immortalised in paperback because the BBC has shown no interest in doing so. Years ago the New Zealand fanclub did just that with the classic stories that hadn't been committed to print (The Pirate Planet, City Of Death, Shada, Resurrection of the Daleks and Revelation of the Daleks), without apparent legal action. One of these was by none other than David Bishop, who, among many other works, went on to pen Amorality Tale, The Domino Effect and Empire Of Death, original stories in the official BBC range!
Do they intend to release the novelisations themself at some point point? Even the accountants must be aware that to release official novelisations of the recent stories would be a sure-fire moneyspinner for the Beeb.
|
|
|
|
Post by cloisterbell on Mar 13, 2008 18:29:22 GMT -5
Hi! Thanks to Rassilon for coming to my defence there! Yes Tractator, I was just wanting to add to the sum of fandom and was giving them away for free, just for the hell of it. We'd all been waiting for the Beeb to do it and nothing had appeared, so I just thought I'd have a crack in the Terrance Dicks style. I certainly had no intention to rip them or RTD off, went out of my way to acknowledge the copyrights in the books themselves and still got trod on good and proper! Just can't win! I suspect that a deal may have been done with Penguin to do them at some point, since they are now publishing the novelisations of the Sarah Jane Adventures that have been on. Getting confirmation of that might prove impossible though! Oh, just to update as I'm moving hosts - my sites (as I've got a few!) can best be found from a menu page at www.galactical.co.uk although the books site is on www.targetonlinebooks.co.uk . Sorry for the commercial! Cheers! |
|
|
|
Post by leerogers on Mar 16, 2008 17:15:20 GMT -5
I'm afraid it may not be as simple as asking the BBC to "turn a blind eye". If they have indeed done a deal with a publisher for possible future releases, then they have a legal obligation to do everything in their power to prevent unauthorised copyright infringements. To ignore it would be a breach of their contract.
|
|
|
|
Post by cloisterbell on Mar 16, 2008 17:17:08 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by cloisterbell on Mar 16, 2008 17:23:52 GMT -5
Hi Lee!
The trouble is, they won't say if they have done a deal - I've just surmised it now the SJA books have come out!
It's altogether a stupid situation I found myself in, as although they wouldn't let me publish them any more and didn't want them themselves, they didn't ask me to destroy them either. How daft is that? They could have had some free website content there without paying a penny, whereas instead I just have to sit on it.
Mmm, bright idea Beeb, very bright!
|
|
|
|
Post by leerogers on Mar 17, 2008 17:09:17 GMT -5
Hi rassilon256
I understand what you're saying, but in the world of business there's a big difference between fans producing their own non-profit making material and someone making material available which the copyright holders may later wish to release commercially.
In short, if the BBC is planning (or later plans) to sell a licence to a publisher to release novelisations of the TV stories, it may harm their sales is a near-identical version of the same product is already available free from another source.
|
|
|
|
Post by Flying Fox 404 on Jul 10, 2010 16:00:12 GMT -5
I believe you should go into publishing.
|
|
tractator
Brigadier
Currently reading State Of Change
Posts: 144
|
Post by tractator on Jul 15, 2010 17:47:49 GMT -5
Thanks mate. I'd love to but it's not as easy as I thought. The actual writing isn't that difficult but it's a bugger fitting it into my daily routine with any degree of regularity. Pretty much as soon as David Tennant stepped into Ecclestone's shoes I put together a vast and detailed synopsis for a new project, THE TEN DOCTORS. I stalled about a third of the way in and the ten doctors now number eleven! I'm sure I will complete it one day but by then we could be on Doctor fifteen!
Ho hum! The best laid plans and all that!
|
|
