posting on a web site question(s)

[judge alba]

not sure if i should post this here or on the literature part so I apologize if this is in the wrong area

I'm thinking of posting a few of my self written stories on the net possibly on a web site of my own if i can do it right but I'm a little stuck on a couple of things.

firstly some of the stories are a couple of trek ones do i need permission from paramount to post them or am i safe to do so providing i dont try to sell them
secondly i also have a couple of resident evil stories do i need permission to post these from who ever owns the resident evil games/films

i have character names from the resi evil games that are mentioned in the stories in fact a couple of them are the main characters will this get me shot from the people who own the resident evil games/films i i keep them in or do i need to change the names though even without the names it's pretty obvious who they are.

i,m unsure on whether I'll be treading on any toes if i just post them up on a site as i said possibly my own one i think i,m right that i can not claim credit for the character names, place names etc what paramount or the resident evil people have invented

thought I'd ask you guys as you all seem to know what's what while I'm still dabbling in the website thing.

 

[Jadzia]

Story characters are considered intellectual property. Posting on a website is legally considered publishing.

So strictly speaking, you'd be publishing derivative material of a copyrighted source, which I expect does infringe the copyright placed on such material, whether you make a profit or not.

But in real terms, I'd be very surprised if there would be any come back... unless it proves hugely popular.

 

[judge alba]

so in theory then if i was to change the character names and the like then it would be safer? maybe if i base any stories in the same world as say resident evil or star trek but not use any chararters names the games etc have used?. is that better or still the same?

 

[Jadzia]

The story environment (star trek universe / res-evil universe) is also intellectual property and the law protects it the same.

Similarities too. If the story is such that it is clearly based upon another source, albeit with name changes, it is still considered to infringe copyright, although you'd have a better defense, as you're borrowing from many sources, just like most fiction does. Copyrights can't be placed broadly on a genre like all SciFi, nor can it be placed on general themes like starships in some interplanetary war. But if a published story talks about Captain Archer and some people called the sphere builders, and your story talks about Captain Hunter and some people called cube builders, then that would draw suspicion. It would be a derivative story.

But like I say, I'd be very surprised if there was any come back on a fan written startrek story.

Its also worth knowing how strongly a company protects its copyrights. Star trek doesn't greatly do so. I've never heard of a single prosecution, or a C&D being issued. But I think the makers of res-evil do. I think in the past there have been lawsuits filed against fans publishing derivative works, but I might be wrong.

 

[judge alba]

righty oh thanks for the help good job i checked before diving in with the resi evil stuff