Law Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for legal professionals, students, and others with experience or interest in law. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
From strategy guides to board- and videogames to projects like Cliff Notes - derivative works abound these days.
What are the legal issues concerned in producing and selling these? What are you allowed to use/say and what aren't you? In the end, who owns what, and does the original creator of the work need to get involved at any point for the creation of such materials to stand?
The works can be out of copyright, as many classic works of literature are, or they can be produced under license from the copyright holder. One could also argue fair use with an educationally oriented product, or that it is not truly a derivative work, and your success with this could vary greatly depending upon fine details of the situation.
