Terry Pratchett
From Fan History Wiki
Terry Pratchett informed fen of his policy regarding fan fiction based on his universe. He announced this on January 23, 1999. He said:
"I don't actually object to fan fiction, which by its very nature uses copyrighted and trademarked material, provided that it's put somewhere where I don't trip over it (so not to a.f.p. or a.b.p, please) isn't done for money, and isn't passed off as 'official' in any way. I can't really object to people writing their own DW scenarios, etc, for other gamers -- the problems would only begin if they got too proprietorial about them. Everything works if people are sensible."
Terry Pratchett is a professional author that Cassandra Claire allegedly plagiarized.
Cassandra Claire was still writing her epic story and actively publishing it. By this time, she had posted it to two mailing lists and FanFiction.Net. On December 18, 2000, Cassandra Claire posted chapter 9, part 1 of Draco Sinister on ParadigmOfUncertainty. It had the following disclaimer and author notes:
- Disclaimer: Not mine, JK's. There are quotes in here from Red Dwarf
- (back when it was funny), Blackadder, Buffy, and I realized I'd
- criminally neglected Terry Pratchett so far, so made up for it by
- nicking several quotes in this chapter at once.
- A/N There's a fair bit of telepathic communication in this story,
- which is indicated in italics. If you can, read it in Files, where
- the italics show up. Otherwise, I apologize if it's at all confusing. [1]
This disclaimer is a bit important as Heidi and Cassandra Claire would later both claim that Cassandra Claire's disclaimers were both okay and properly done, citing the material correctly. This is the disclaimer for the chapter that eventually led to Cassandra Claire's black listing from FanFiction.Net for plagiarism.
September 2001 was a month where Cassandra Claire was continuing to try to negoiate with Pamela Dean to get permission for the plagiarized bits in her story. At this time, Cassandra Claire was not trying to get similar permission from any of the authors she had plagiarized like Roger Zelazny, Terry Pratchett and Tanith Lee. At this point, the only person she was seeking to get permission from was Pamela Dean. On September 3, 2001, Pamela Dean made a comment on Usenet which obliquely referred to the Cassandra Claire incident. The comment was made on rec.arts.sf.composition. [2] It is one of the only public comments that Pamela Dean seems to have made regarding the incident. The tone of the comment seems to suggest permission would not be given. This post coincides with the same time period that Heidi indicates she was in negotiations with Pamela Dean's agent to obtain permission for Cassandra Claire to use the text from The Hidden Land in Draco Sinister. [3] From the Bad_Penny account by Avocado and comments by R.J. Anderson, [4] it appears that the tragic events of September 11, 2001 ended all efforts to reach a conclusion as the parties were distracted by world events. They may have never been picked up again.
