Can I use Batman & Superman

Question

Long time reader, first time poster, but I had to ask, I've written a short story wherein the world it's set in (Metropolis) is lived in by batman (but a future where Robin took over the mantle), and a whole host of superheroes (like Spiderman married Wonder woman, The Thing does specialised porn etc), and Superman (now married to Lois Lane with a son), but the main story's about the son of superman and a new Robin - and it's (supposed to be) humourous.

If I tried to include it in a book selling on Amazon and itunes, would I be looking at troubles? bearing in mind, the story probably wouldn't work if I had to substitute the heroes.

I'm wondering if satire wouldn't cover the fair use thing. Thanks for any help.

Tony F.

Answer 1

In no way does this constitute legal advice... I'll just point you to this Wikipedia article on fan fiction.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_issues_with_fan_fiction

The shortest answer is "no" -- fan fiction is not generally covered by fair use. 

Answer 2

If, in any way, you are getting money for your work, then it is in no way legal. You can't even claim fair use in this case. If it were just fan fiction on a website, it is still technically illegal (though you MAY be able to argue fair use), but most companies won't go ballistic over fan-fic's.

Comments

@gothenem I wouldn't go quite that far.  It is entirely possible for fair use to happen in a commercial setting (think of how often commercial news reports rely on fair use, or look at the case of a book publisher who published a book of Grateful Dead posters -- which was found to be fair use, despite being a commercial endeavor).

Not that this means commercial use is always fair use.  And in this instance, it still seems unlikely that this kind of activity would be seen as fair use.  Just saying that your claim that if there's money, it's definitely illegal does not hold in all cases.  Just most cases.

Answer 3

As others have stated, you should look very closely at the laws governing these things and if you're serious about publishing the book, speak to a lawyer well before you go forward with it.

Two other points I'd mention (and, as Mike Ho noted above, this is not legal advice in any way shape or form -- but just noting two general points):

1. You mention satire, but satire is not considered a form of fair use.  *Parody* can be (though is not definitely), but not satire.  It's important to understand the difference.
2. Even if you think you have a strong fair use defense, that does not mean a large company with deep pockets won't sue you.

Answer 4

I'm kind of curious as to what the copyright situation is with regard to characters. Does the copyright period run from the first publication with those characters in or is the clock restarted with every subsequent use?