Ingresar
Copyright and fan fiction
By Cristina Arenas-Solís, Ferraiuoli LLC
With Internet and social media, a practice known as fan fiction has strongly emerged. It refers to fans of a literary or TV series who discuss that work on Internet groups and create new stories based on the original fictional writing.
The best example of fan fiction are the fan-written novels and stories that came out from the Twilight series. The practice was so popular that Twilight fan fiction almost became a new series.
Production companies, publishers and copyright owners of the original works had never claimed copyright infringement as they understand fans are having fun in a goodwill manner with no intention of harm or confusing consumers.
However things changed with the popularity of Bridgerton, a Netflix TV series about London high society in the 19th century. Bridgerton premiered during the middle of the pandemic (December 2020). It had a great reception and the next seasons were highly anticipated by fans.
Two women, Abigail Barlow and Emily Beard, became TikTok sensations by creating and streaming songs based on the series. They were so successful that they won the Best Musical Theater Album Grammy in 2022.
Netflix approached both women for the first time when the company learned they were preparing a live performance at the Lincoln Center in New York City. Netflix offered a license agreement but Barlow and Beard did not accept it.
Netflix answered by filing a lawsuit for copyright infringement. The company claimed that it had never licensed the intellectual property of Bridgerton and that the performance of Beard and Barlow could affect a Netflix co-produced theatre show called The Queen's Ball: A Bridgerton Experience, a live concert by a string quartet playing music inspired by Bridgerton’s soundtrack.
The lawsuit was finally settled last month. However, we must emphasize that any new work derived from an original work is infringing the copyright of the original if there is no authorization from its owner. There seems to be a fine line between what is allowed as fan fiction and what is considered copyright infringement. In this case, the fine line was crossed when Beard and Barlow monetized their music and tried to compete with Netflix.
Ferraiuoli LLC
Ferraiuoli LLC (FLLC) was founded in 2003 by the late Blas Ferraiuoli-Martínez, Eugenio Torres-Oyola and María Marchand-Sánchez. This group was then joined in 2004 by Fernando J. Rovira-Rullán, thus forming the founding core of FLLC. FLLC has grown exponentially since its founding from a law firm with three attorneys and a support staff of three to its current size of 54 attorneys with a support staff of 38. Also, FLLC has grown from initially being known as an intellectual property and corporate law boutique law firm to a multiservice law firm that handles most matters relevant to a business while continuing to earn praise for its leading intellectual property and corporate practices.
FLLC has been ranked as a leading law firm in Puerto Rico by the professional publication Chambers Latin America in intellectual property, corporate, bankruptcy, labor & employment, real estate, and tax law. Moreover, 17 FLLC partners have been ranked as leaders in their field by the same publication. 4 FLLC partners are ranked as leaders in Intellectual Property, no other firm has more than 2. This recognition in such a short period of time is a tribute to FLLC’s business model.
FLLC prides itself in doing its work faster and more cost-efficiently yet with the same quality as that of its main competitors. The founding name partners are available at all times to attend to client matters. Their work ethic sets the tone for the rest of the firm. FLLC’s founders’ goal has been steady from the outset: become one of the premier multiservice law firms in Puerto Rico.