Regarding Fanfictions and Plagiarism...

[whiskeyii]

So, recently I've been perusing through various discussions regarding Cassandra Clare/Claire, a Big Name Fan responsible for the Draco Trilogy, and now her own published novels, the Mortal Instruments series. Now, admittedly, I have not read the Draco Trilogy. However, during my search, I found that Ms. Clare had been accused of plagiarism for not citing excerpts taken from Pamela Dean's Secret Country trilogy. There were also several incidents of citing excerpts explicitly taken from various TV shows and other books. Whether the sources that were cited can be taken as plagiarism is up for debate. However, that brings me to an interesting point.

Kingdom Hearts revolves around previously established Disney movies, obviously. But does that mean that by directly quoting character dialogue from, say, The Emperor's New Groove for Kuzco inside of Kuzco's world is plagiarism? Quoting from the source is about as "strictly canon" as one can get, but one is still lifting the dialogue directly from the source. And while I can place a disclaimer saying that all Disney and Square Enix characters are copyright their respective owners, does that cover dialogue and scenarios as well?

What do the rest of you think? Any thoughts?

EDIT: This is in regards to fanfiction.

EDIT 2: This question was originally posted with insufficient information (I did not mention that this was regarding fanfiction alone), therefore I have reposted the question in order to obtain a better response.

 

[Allister Rose]

is this a personal matter that you dont like anything that is consider plagiarism or you think it's a seriosu issue that will attract attention. because if it's the second one, it doesnt really matter.

 

[Mason Stark]

Ack, I thought your last thread was about Kingdom Hearts and was in the wrong section! I'm sorry that I moved it. D:

For the plagiarism thing, it depends on the situation, I guess? Since you said fanfiction, I don't see why there would be a problem with it. You're already doing something with a copyrighted work and that's fine, as long as you don't make a profit from it. (If you're making a profit from it, then I think that scream plagiarism and copyright infringement, more the later in that situation.) If the case you presented is what's going on in your story, then there shouldn't be a problem with it.

 

[whiskeyii]

No, that's alright. I should've been more clear to begin with. I was a little uncertain because disclaimers usually say something along the lines of "[Disney character] does not belong to me, but this story does", implying that everything about the story is mine, including the dialogue. If my disclaimer only cited characters alone, could someone still cry foul on my story for not citing the dialogue from the movie? That's what I was wondering about.

 

[Annoyance]

I usually leave a disclaimer that I don't own anything relating to Kingdom Hearts or blah blah else than the story that I've written... If I don't I get annoyed. D:

There are some cases where artists don't want their work to be in fanfiction. Anne Rice and some other authors are some. FF.net doesn't have a section and won't allow one to be made.


As for stolen dialogue... That's kind of silly... I make small references sometimes. I dunno if I actually used a line from the game or not. (the only fanfiction i've ever written was unheard whispers so it's slim chance).

 

[tangerine]

I accidentally voted "no, that would not be considered plagiarism."

I think you would have to cite everything in complete MLA format for that to technically not be considered plagiarism. Quoting a line directly into your own work would be considered plagiarism because the line, whether its dialogue or otherwise, is not your own and the idea behind that bit of text is also not your own. I don't think having a disclaimer matters. A disclaimer can waive all claims of owning characters or concepts or worlds, but if someone replicates text word for word without giving proper credit it's another issue.

That's my opinion on the matter, anyway. I'm sure you could Google up whether Disclaimers legally include dialogue or text.

 

[whiskeyii]

@Tangerine: Having taken you up on that suggestion, it seems that lifted dialogue is one of the more "gray" areas of fanfiction. The general consensus is that disclaimers stating the use of lifted dialogue are deemed acceptable, but I have seen the citation method used, most notably in Cassandra Clare's work (and we all know how well that worked out for her). For now, it seems a lifted-dialogue disclaimer is the way to go, but if anyone hears any differently (or better yet, knows differently), feel free to say so.