Amazon book / was: Re: Austin Live Theatre: Fan-Produced DS webseries ...

[The Doctor and K9]

The book has been removed.

[borgosi]

I'm guessing we'll get a whole new series of books if the movie does well. I don't know if I'm gonna want 'em with all that's happening but I'm fairly sure we'll get 'em.

[borgosi]

I am all for the family or estate of Dan Curtis protecting what many of us think was Dan's greatest creation, but it sure seems that with this new movie coming out the "estate" is protecting it more than Dan ever did. I wasn't lucky enough to meet the man but nor do I claim to know what he thought about his fans but I don't think he ever gave them such a hard time. They have every right to do whatever they like with this but it does make one wonder if they are motivated by a love for Dark Shadows or a love of money. In the end I guess it doesn't really matter.

Maybe I need to change the quote below this before they come after me.

[Midnite]

The copyright protection that you're referring to is nothing new, borgosi.

[borgosi]

It just seems that when the fans were keeping the show alive the "estate" was more likely to look the other way. Word is they don't even want fan produced T-shirts now and I expect things will get alot worse as we get closer to the release of the new movie. Makes me wonder what will happen when they get their offical web-site ready.

[The Doctor and K9]

I can understand why the owners of the copyright were upset in this case. This was not a zine that's being sold at conventions or through the mail. The vast majority, if not all of those publications are immediately recognizable as a fan project. They don't look like conventional hardcover or paperback books. In this case, there was no attempt made to identify it as fanfic or anything like that In fact, the description implied that it was licensed property. That took a great deal of nerve.  Also, with no printing or shipping costs, every cent that didn't go to Amazon was pure profit.

[Mysterious Benefactor]

there was no attempt made to identify it as fanfic or anything like that In fact, the description implied that it was licensed property. That took a great deal of nerve.  Also, with no printing or shipping costs, every cent that didn't go to Amazon was pure profit.

Exactly. It's no wonder the estate wasn't happy. I was just saying to a friend the other day that offering the fanfic as an e-book on Amazon's Web site is today's equivalent of publishing fanfic as a book and selling it in a bookstore. DCP would have never allowed that.

[borgosi]

I'm ok with them pulling the book, I can understand them being hands off about DS. But I know fans who have told me that they have been told not to sell things that they were allowed to sell in the past at fests. This is what really gets to me. They don't want anything said about it to Jim so I can't say who it was but it did include t-shirts and photos of "Seaview" that were taken after the show when off the air. I could understand a new shirt that had never been at a fest. or a photo of the house that was taken from the show. But a photo that was taken with the blessings of the owners of the house? I shirt that was ok at past fests? That's going just a little to far.