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Message: <blockquote data-quote="msd" data-source="post: 1947986" data-attributes="member: 19974"><disclaimer>I'm not a copyright attorney.  I just finished a term in IP in law school, but really...not a copyright lawyer and could be way off on this one</disclaimer>Assuming the work is public domain in the EU and not in the US...It seems like the problem is not really the derivative work element so much as the right of distribution element (one of the five basic rights protected by copyright - right to copy, right to adapt into derivative works, right to distribute, right to publicly display, right to publicly perform).In other words, for those posters in the US, there is an argument that when you create a derivative work based on copyrighted material and upload that piece of work to the Internet, you are infringing the right of distribution.That ENWorld happens to be run from the UK is probably beside the point.  They maintain a server in the United States and (playing the devil's advocate or the plaintiff's attorney in this instance) are secondarily liable for infringement to the extent that they allow infringing works to be posted on their site.As a practical matter, and depending on the nature of the derivative work, the author might be protected by the fair use doctrine.Again, I could easily be off and I know that there are a couple of IP attorneys who post on these boards so I will defer to them on the matter, but as a general answer to your question, I would be much more concerned about distribution than the mere creation of derivative works.See Napster.-Matt</blockquote>

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