Copyrights Retold: How Interpretive Rights Foster Creativity and Justify Fan-Based Activities

Abstract

Fan subculture, in all its varied forms, brings with it distinctive examples of what may be dubbed "fan-based activities", a class of derivative works that confounds traditional copyright analysis. While ostensibly infringement, these activities expand the public's stores of knowledge and enhance the copyright holder's economic and creative interests. Drawing on the distinctive characteristics of those activities, this article advances an interpretive rights framework as a means for copyright law to better account for the unique attributes of "fan-based" works. Through the development of concepts like interpretive rights, creative teleology, and canonicity, and by applying those concepts to real-world examples of fan-based activities, this article seeks to fill in a crucial gap in traditional conceptions of copyright. With this framework, copyright law can account for and uphold fan-based uses that fulfill the dual purposes of copyright by furthering the interests of copyright holders and the public alike.

*National Second Prize Winner, 2009 Nathan Burkan Memorial Competition*

Keywords: Intellectual Property, Copyright, Fan-Based Activities, Fair Use, Creative Teleology, Canonicity, Teleology, Fan-Based Works, Interpretive Rights, Doujinshi, Nathan Burkan