Copyright issues/ Doesn't Disney own Peter Pan?

So I've gotten this question from the get-go:
What about the copyright?
Doesn't Disney own Peter Pan?
How are you supposed to deal with the rights?

Okay so first of all, all of my research on copyright ownership is from wikipedia, so while I didn't use official, bibliography-worthy sources, I have a feeling that wikipedia is still a viable go-to place to get my infos. Here they are by the way: http://neverpedia.com/pan/Ownership_of_the_Peter_Pan_works   and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_and_Wendy#Copyright_status

So here we go.

A little background: The GREAT J.M. Barrie wrote Peter Pan (or The Boy that Wouldn't Grow Up) as a play in 1904, then as a book in 1911, with some parts edited to fit on to the page. After his death, he bequeathed the rights of Peter Pan -play and novel- to Great Ormond Street Hospital, or GOSH, a children's hospital in London.

Now, copyrights generally last until 50 years after the owner's death, but it can be renewed to extend past that deadline, like what GOSH (yeah, we're calling them that now) did. Barrie died in 1937, which means that the copyright should have expired in 1987, but -and I quote- it "was revived in 1995 through 31 December 2007 by a directive to harmonize copyright laws within the EU..."


You can skip this if you want, because it's boring until...

"...Meanwhile in 1988, former Prime Minister James Callaghan sponsored a Parliamentary Bill granting a perpetual extension of some of the rights to the work, entitling the hospital to royalties for any performance, publication, or adaptation of the play. This is not a true perpetual copyright (copyright without a finite term/extension of a copyright that up until now had a limit), however, as it does not grant the hospital creative control over the use of the material, nor the right to refuse permission to use it."

And in the U.S. the copyright laws are different. I quote from the same article:
"The laws are different in the US Under the Berne Convention, the copyright to Peter Pan transferred to GOSH just like in the UK, but the clock started ticking on its expiration long before Barrie died.

When The Little White Bird was written, US copyrights lasted at most 42 years after publication, but this was extended to 56 years in 1909, so the copyright to LWB expired at the end of 1958.
"But that's not the version of Peter Pan that most people know and love, so that made little difference in terms of exploiting the character.
 "The play and the original play Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up were was written and performed in 1904, but it wasn't published, so the clock didn't start ticking.
 In 1911, Peter and Wendy was published, in New York as well as London, and that is the story and characters that most people identify as "Peter Pan". The copyright to that book expired at the end of 1967."
While they may have extended the copyright to 2028, that's only for the stage play before it goes into the public domain. "GOSH now acknowledges that the copyright for the novel version of the story has expired in the United States, and with it the copyright for the characters themselves. GOSH does still assert a copyright to the published version of the script, though they've expressed a lack of interest in pursuing someone who might include (copyrighted) bits from the play in an adaptation of the (public domain) novel."


...here.

So basically the book is in public domain in the U.S. and U.K. Except for Spain and the Netherlands, where the work goes into public domain later on after the author dies (around 70-75 years-ish), the book is safe to be adapted.

And, no, Disney does NOT own any part of Peter Pan. Maybe their own version/adaptations, like the Tinker Bell movie series or Jake and the Neverland Pirates or maybe the other ways they use the characters, but if I wanted to use the original source material, they wouldn't be able to stop it.

I can write whatever I want with the original novel and other source material. I'll talk about what makes my version different than the others made/ filmed/ published in another entry, but hopefully that answers those questions.


Sorry for boring you all with this "lecture" but it had to be done. It's all over now; we can move into more fun topics.
See you all in the sunlight!!


-Zach

 P.S.- This sort of research can be applied to any work you might have as well. Just make sure to do the research first. Otherwise, Fanfiction.net could use your story.

What's up with the catchphrases?

Hey there guys,
 It's that time of the week again! - Or that random time of the week when I can write you guys.

Here's the next answers to some popular questions-

First off, congratulations to my readers in Germany for bringing home the World Cup!! You guys make a pretty good football/soccer team!



Moving on...





What's up with the catchphrases/ random signoffs/ nerdfighter rip-off?


1) I guess I'm just making a sort of atmosphere for my content, something along the lines of "dreaming positively". That's why I've called you, my audience, "dream flyers" at some point or another, because I'd like to think that we all can still fly in our dreams. It's a metaphor from the book, sort of.
Now it's not meant to rip off of the nerdfighters- I'm actually a nerdfighter too, and I have nothing against it-, rather just to enhance the group in some way- which I can't think of at the moment. Let me know what you think of that.



2) You've probably noticed that I sign off some of the blog posts and FB (Facebook) posts with the phrase "see you in the sunlight".


Well, it's a really great line I stumbled upon while writing the book. David's friend in the Orphanage says it the most out of anyone else in the book and I thought it was too good to hold on to until the story is published. Also it means that I hope to speak to you later on brighter terms; not because I'm always in darker times, but rather that it can always get better.



3) Finally, people also have asked me why "David" is the name that I sign off with on FB. Well that's because "David" is the main character's name, and it IS his book's page.



Plus, the name will change to Peter after 12 days in publication. You know, Peter Pan? I think that would be a nice touch.



Hope that helps answer some questions.



See you all in the sunlight!! ;-)

-Zach




P.S.- These Q & A posts will probably be posted once a week on... which day is best? Comment down below.

Other behind the scenes stuff will be posted as the book finds progress besides for the current revision.

So...Why Peter Pan?

As the book nears closer to completion, I should begin to explain myself, especially after all of the questions I've gotten through FB and email.

Consequently, the next few posts will be answers to the most common questions. Feel free to email me at zzoan37@gmail.com for any others.

So why did you decide to write about Peter Pan?

Well, it feels like a huge amount of closure for me to write about one of my hidden childhood heroes.

I have been making different stories ever since I was able to doodle- to put down my thoughts into pictures. 

One of the first characters I drew? Peter Pan. 

The first story to ever incorporate already made characters? One where Peter Pan played a HUGE role.
One of my favorite movies growing up? Peter freakin Pan.

I even used a specific rescue technique based on the Disney version of the book- the "no splash" technique, where Wendy is caught by Peter before she hits the water, hence the "N-No Splash, Captain" dialogue. 

In fact, that was one of the ways how I got the idea to make an origin story for Peter Pan in the first place.

Another point: I use something called "creative routing", a technique for new and current projects. When I see/hear something that catches my eye/ear, I immediately try to route it to one of my projects, to make new ideas and plot points for the story.

This is what did it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHohWh5likw

Yep. One song. That's all it took.

It was from a movie trailer; The second trailer for Hugo-based on the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret-to be exact.

It came out a month before it released in theatres and I was hooked. For an entire weekend the images and sounds of that trailer swirled in my head like a catchy jingle that refuses to be forgotten.

At the time I barely had any projects and had nothing in mind but for one idea (a pokemon fanfiction, currently under construction). Then I remembered the usage of the technique I mentioned earlier- the "no splash" technique.

That's when it hit me.

Peter Pan. A story like Hugo...but for Peter Pan...wait, how he became Peter Pan! Not like Hugo, but from an orphan boy just like him! That's it!

And the rest is history. That happened in October... I'm going to say 2011?... And if you want to see, the earlier drafts had almost direct references to Hugo, from clock tower scenes to dialogue to how the boy even acts in the story.

Then it went from Peter Pan to The Last Pan to The Second Star to Second Light and finally to Second to the Right. 

So essentially, it was accidentally on purpose. I've always thought of Peter Pan as a quintessential fantasy character, and to stumble upon a premise I had never thought of before was very refreshing and let my creativity go full circle.

Also that trailer music now is being put to good use for another project (not fanfic, but not for now).

I actually use this for inspiration now: www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwZ5-P3FnEk

Anytime I'm stuck with a part of the story, I just play this and let the ideas swirl around until something new solves the issue. Also the fact how I play my stories in my head like they're movie trailers helps too.

Hope that helped answer the question. Another answer will come up sometime next week.

See you all in the sunlight!

-Zach

P.S.- That first track got me into trailer music.
You should check out the genre sometime. You never know what you might find that could help you find your next big idea.