The Muse Is Never Monogamous (WisCon 30 Panel)

195 The Muse is Never Monogamous

Writing SF&F: The Business•Conference Room 5• Sunday, 1:00-2:15 p.m.

Sometimes ideas seem to be in the air, and people can gain individual but similar inspirations from disparate sources. The increasingly comprehensive reach of intellectual property laws seems troubling in the context of artistic and scentific creativity. What should the limits of copyright, trademark, and patent be?

Jeannie Bergmann, Bill Humphries, Hilary Moon Murphy, Lucy Jane Sussex

Panelists

• Bill Humphries, Jeannie Bergmann, Hilary Moon Murphy, Lucy Jane Sussex, Laura Quilter (last-minute addition)

A few notes about titles & incidents mentioned on the panel.

ip /

writer of the happy cat / ... ? before colin doyle * sold his copyright * handsome cat publishing company formed * first guaranteed million seller in crime genre * FERGUS SHIRE NEVER HAD A BOOK SO SUCCESSFUL AGAIN * worst business decision he made in his career

j. m. barrie - peter pan * what happened with hook

• creativity ... right to re-use works

• insulin re-peating patents with twists

• 17.5 years ago published a short story in a fantasy magazine; 8 years ago this story was paid homage to in a movie that made a lot of money. told two things: don't own the idea; hard lesson to learn. they don't own the idea either but anyone can pay homage to it.

• h. g. wells still in copyright ... continuation from The Time Machine
• manuscript assessment / did a sequel to h.g. wells. i said do you realize that you might end up having to pay money to h.g. wells estate; he phoned me up long-distance & thanked me.

• gregory maguire - wicked. did lots of checking on movie as well as book to make sure not taking too much.

• panelist poem on making light

• dr. rink superhero shrink

• lucy sussex / writing a history of crime fiction -- enabled circulation of texts
  • poe w/in a couple of months of rue morgue published
  • began to get picked up in france
  • poe never saw any money from his

• the hitler diaries / forger who mostly forged paintings
  • news of the weird
  • the guy's daughter has been selling his forged paintings
  • two forgers, the one was forging vermeers for the nazis
  • forged old masters collectible in their own right
  • fake fakes
  • orson welles /

• graphic design - notion that everything is up for grabs
  • susan mieselas / riot /

• poets & graphic artists - want a particular reaction

• nonfiction book on teaching genetics to non-scientists

• mad hot ballroom

• poem about death of princess diana / andrew motion
  • published all over the web
  • a lot of people saw it who had never seen his work before
  • contributed to him becoming the british poet laureate

• star wars / crewof2.com