Some of you might have been asking themselves what the prolific Omegaverse tag is that currently has 210 entries: https://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?category=Omegaverse

Maybe you gazed in confusion at such works in the releases section or on web readers due to the frequent drop rate of entries in the sub-genre. I now fully know and so can you but I knew a few things before watching.

Into The Omegaverse: How a Fanfic Trope Landed in Federal Court by Lindsay Ellis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhWWcWtAUoY
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omegaverse

I was highly reminded of Ai no Kusabi (Novel) from 1986. I saw the OVAs. The 90s one is ok-ish.
The copyright nonsense is thus even direr as many of the 2010s tropes are already in this mid 80s work. Just not the "Animorphs" stuff. Modern Yaoi was molded in rape, wasn´t it?
Semes and Ukes also predate Alphas and Betas but not the wrong wolf study book from 1970 that gave us the terms. Huh. A lot to think about, an examination of this trainwreck from a Japanese fiction perspective would certainly hold value (if the NYT wrote about this so can you dear college student) and modern copyright is a grift.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/23/business/omegaverse-erotica-copyright.html

In summary: Tag responsibly and I will see you in court 😉.
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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

Quote from residentgrigo

Some of you might have been asking themselves what the prolific Omegaverse tag is that currently has 210 entries

No, absolutely no one was asking about this. Why are you making a regular thread dedicated to posting about your gay fetishes?

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Let's not talk about one of the potentially more important copyright cases of our times that was coved by legitimate outlets literally everyone here knows of. On a site that is swamped with such works. Ok then... The technically concluded court case didn´t end up setting any sort of legal precedent for the reasons stated in the video breakdown but it could have and that is worrying.
Just think about it all fams. Zero (direct) legal precedents exist in the fan-fic realm, even if we take out the Omegaverse tropes that proved to be the battleground here. My college course on copyright that was held by Prof. Doc. of law coved fan fiction. No joke! Thx HAW Hamburg.
A landmark case was avoided on technicalities! This very site would have needed to delete entries to not rock the boat if things went south. The video explains it though the part that examines the mass Kindle deletions.

All of this truly shows what a pile of nonsense the current copyright landscape is and it won´t be Disney or any other such giant that could change copyright basics in the near future. They only want to cling on to the current status quo as they put it in place. Fringe weirdos like the 2 Omegaverse giants are the ones to look out for. Scary on the one hand but also captivating.

Lindsay´s breakdown made the "sub-genre" more visible btw. A recent Penny Arcade skit about the state of the current literary world: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2020/10/05/ant-eater
Bestiality adjacent (Rape) Smut is now this close to mainstream. Expect the tag entries to grow.

PS: Minute 27:40 features an excerpt from a bullet point list written by a lawyer for the, and I quote, "Literature Genre" Omegaverse. It might now have a legally recognized definition under US law? Federal judges had to go through that list point by point!

I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

Quote from residentgrigo

Zero (direct) legal precedents exist in the fan-fic realm

A quick web search disagrees. Summing up the points in the article linked, the fanfiction is safe as long as the work is either:
[color=green]>1. Free

2. Generic enough that it can thrive as it's own entity
3. Parodies, critiques, analyzes, and/or transforms the original
4. Is using a work in the public domain[/color]

That last one needs some specificity, because you do have several works and characters in the public domain, (Zorro, John Carter, Little Women, Wizard of Oz, Heracles, Tarzan, Tom Sawyer, King Arthur, etc.), but you ALSO have works based off those public domain characters that IS protected by copyright (Sony's 2019 Little Women and Zorro films; Disney's Zorro films (Remember that they own Fox), John Carter, Oz the Great and Powerful, Tarzan, and The Sword in the Stone; MGM's 2014 Hercules and 2000 Tom Sawyer; and WB's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and The Legend of Tarzan). What this means is that you are allowed to use these works and characters that are in the public domain, BUT you have to make sure that those same elements do not directly and explicitly overlap other "interpretations" of those works (Such as how Disney and WB can both make Tarzan without suffering a lawsuit, or Sony and Disney with Zorro).

As long as the fanfiction fulfills, at least, one of those criteria, it's in the clear. Even the NYT article that you linked about the "Omegaverse lawsuit" brings up that both of the works were being sold. Neither were released free of charge.

And, as far as how that case effects this site...long story short, it doesn't and it won't. First of all, outside of OELs, none of the works listed here are published in America (Which all these court cases mentioned pertain to). They're published in Japan, which means they fall under Japanese copyright law (Or their respective country's law for those non-Nip works), which has it's own set of rules (In specifically Japan's case, one that's much more lenient when it comes to fanfiction and derivative works). In addition, the Japanese works that are officially released outside of Japan are licensed, not published, which falls under a completely different set of rules. Second, this site operates as a free database, which is protected from copyright lawsuits, as well as provides critiques and analysis of copyright written works (Which fulfills the criteria needed for a work to be considered "fair use" ).

Also, on a separate note, why do you keep talking about American politics and act like it effects your country that's an ocean away (Germany)? Or, like I said, even effects Japan? All of us have a completely different constitution, government, court system, and set of laws (Despite the "similarities" ).

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