ABSTRACT
Accusations by fans that other fans have plagiarized their fanfic are, sadly, not unknown. If the first, copied fanfic is itself an unlawful use of the underlying work—that is, an infringement on the copyright in the underlying work—that infringing fanfic is not itself protected by copyright. 1 Plagiarizing it may be unethical, but not illegal, although it may nonetheless have social consequences within the fandom. 2 If the first fanfic makes lawful use of the underlying work, however, it is copyrighted, as far as (but only as far as) any original contribution made by the fanfic author. Section 103(b) of the Copyright Act provides that:
The copyright in a compilation or derivative work extends only to the material contributed by the author of such work, as distinguished from the preexisting material employed in the work, and does not imply any exclusive right in the preexisting material. The copyright in such work is independent of, and does not affect or enlarge the scope, duration, ownership, or subsistence of, any copyright protection in the preexisting material. 3
