Two questions: Urban Legends and fairy tales in stories

thegirlwhowrites · Apr 22, 2009

Is it OK to use urban legends/urban myths in stories (without permission)? for example: candy man, bloody mary, the idea of Friday the 13th, etc.
I guess you can also call these folklore..

Also, I have the same question with fairy tales, fables and such. can anyone use those (without being sued)?

Manix · Apr 22, 2009

Yes. I believe mostly urban legends, myths and fairy tales have all fallen under the heading of "Public domain" and you shouldn't have a problem unless you put your name on the book "Cinderella" and try to pass it off as an original work you drummed up on your own.

thegirlwhowrites · Apr 22, 2009

well is there a site out there that gives people a list of urban legends, fairy tales they can use, so they're not confused?

Manix · Apr 22, 2009

Here's a link from Snopes about urban legends:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=1&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.snopes.com%2F&ei=OjXvSeiiApjhtgfFjMTSDw&usg=AFQjCNGef9g87vH-E1zz3C1QcYgyZiU61Q&sig2=yVQt2Q7ZFhyRT0VpevjfOg

Manix · Apr 22, 2009

Oops. That link didn't come out like I intended. Anyway, Snopes.com has a search where you can type in any urban legend you want and it will bring up a bunch of options to browse through. Is that what you were looking for?

thegirlwhowrites · Apr 22, 2009

thanks for your help but I was looking for a site that listed out all the non-copyrighted (or copyrighted) fairy tales and urban legends. if any such site even exists.

thegirlwhowrites · Apr 22, 2009

but that's a good site, very helpful. thanks!

Kitty Pryde · Apr 22, 2009

thegirlwhowrites said:
Is it OK to use urban legends/urban myths in stories (without permission)? for example: candy man, bloody mary, the idea of Friday the 13th, etc.
I guess you can also call these folklore..

Also, I have the same question with fairy tales, fables and such. can anyone use those (without being sued)?

You can find lots of lists of fairy tales on wikipedia. Like here.

In short, (in the US) you can use any of these fairy tales or urban legends in your writing. Just make sure you aren't using elements that belong to copyrighted versions of the stories. For instance: snow white is okay, the seven dwarves are okay, but Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy Sneezy, Bashful, and Dopey belong to Disney and you can't write about them.

Friday the 13th as in an unlucky day is part of folklore, and thus okay to write about. Friday the 13th as in a day that an angry mother kills a bunch of sinful fornicating camp counselors to avenge her adorable and dead son Jason Voorhees belongs to the people who made that great film, and thus NOT okay to write about.

Note: 'Candyman' isn't an urban legend as far as I know. It's a cheesy horror movie based on a Clive Barker story. So like I said, check your sources before you start writing. Have fun!

jimpickens · Apr 22, 2009

You may run into problems with protected properties such as anything involving the Candyman or Friday the 13th movies I would get permission before doing anything covering those two franchises.

CACTUSWENDY · Apr 23, 2009

I find it interesting that Snow White can be used but not the name of the little guys.....hum. Wonder why?

lovesaphira · Apr 23, 2009

What about Dracula? is he copywrited? hehe

Stijn Hommes · Apr 23, 2009

One of the definitions of an urban legend is that it's almost always impossible to find out who originated it, so there's no one to ask permission from. Fairy tales are a little more complicated because whether those are still copyrighted depends on when their author died and whether the copyright was renewed.

bonitakale · Apr 23, 2009

CACTUSWENDY said:
I find it interesting that Snow White can be used but not the name of the little guys.....hum. Wonder why?

Because Snow White is a fairy tale, from way back when. Disney changed (corrupted?) it to make a cartoon. Same with Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, etc. (And Bambi, and Mary Poppins, but they are novels that may still be in copyright.) The dwarves didn't have names in the original story, and weren't especially cute.

Your library probably has books about fairy tales under the 398's. Get a big fat book from the Grimm brothers, or something from the Arabian Nights, or tales by Perrault or Hans Christian Andersen, and you'll see where Disney got the stories he used. Or, go to Project Gutenberg and read them there. They are all old; the Disney Corp could do whatever they liked to them, and so can you.

Don't EVER trust Disney for a story.

cherubsmummy · Apr 23, 2009

There are some great novels which have used fairy tales as part of their inspiration.Daughter of the Forest, by Juliet Marillier is the novelisation of a fairy tale about brothers who were turned into swans and the task their sister had to perform to save them. Gregory Maguire (author of Wicked) has also written novels using the Cinderella fairy tale (Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister) and Snow White (Mirror, Mirror).

archerjoe · Apr 23, 2009

Or, maybe read the urban legends and use the concepts to create something new.

Here's another site

Matera the Mad · Apr 23, 2009

Ugh, about.com.

Free books, some dealing with fairy tales and myths
www.fullbooks.com/
http://promo.net/pg/
http://www.infomotions.com/alex/
Reasearch away.

jimpickens · Apr 25, 2009

What about the Sesame Street characters are they protected I am under the opinion that if it's aired on public TV then it's public domain.

lovesaphira · Apr 25, 2009

jimpickens said:
What about the Sesame Street characters are they protected I am under the opinion that if it's aired on public TV then it's public domain.

I think you have to get permission before using sesame street characters. They were created by Jim Henson, weren't they?
I don't think you can use them just because they air on public tv.

bonitakale · Apr 25, 2009

jimpickens said:
What about the Sesame Street characters are they protected I am under the opinion that if it's aired on public TV then it's public domain.

No, nothing aired on public TV is public domain; it's copyrighted and/or trademarked just the same as other TV stuff.

Bonita

lovesaphira · Apr 25, 2009

Ok i have another question. I know that King Arthur is a legend and public domain but are there aspects of his legend that are copyrighted? like Lancelot or Excalibur or any of the knights at the round table...that kind of stuff.

Kitty Pryde · Apr 25, 2009

lovesaphira said:
Ok i have another question. I know that King Arthur is a legend and public domain but are there aspects of his legend that are copyrighted? like Lancelot or Excalibur or any of the knights at the round table...that kind of stuff.

I reckon you need to go to the really old stuff, like l'morte d'arthur and other stuff like that, and look at what aspects of the legend were described back then, and then you'll know what aspects are part of the public domain. As far as I remember, Lancelot, Excalibur, and a bunch of the knights were there.

Cyia · Apr 25, 2009

lovesaphira said:
What about Dracula? is he copywrited? hehe

No. Stoker's been dead long enough for there to be no copyright on the Count. Plenty of people use him in modern novels. Ditto for Vlad Tepes.

What about the Sesame Street characters are they protected I am under the opinion that if it's aired on public TV then it's public domain.

Never trust your own opinion on legal matters. Those are not public domain any more than Clifford the Big Red Dog or Arthur, even though they all air on public TV. They're under active copyright and in current use. They're also trademarked so that you can't even use the characters' likenesses without permission.

PoppysInARow · Apr 26, 2009

Okay, I got one. I've had a novel idea based off of Alice and Wonderland for a long time. It'd be changing everything, but some of the characters and similiarities would be there (Eg, the tea party, painting roses, ect) Except it was in a modern setting and it was a crime drama.

Would I be allowed to write it, or is that taking too much from old AoW?

jimpickens · Apr 26, 2009

I believe that if you do it in parody then you you can get around the copyright infringement. Case in point the Bert Is Evil website before the infamous Bin Laden pictures forced the original site to close I did a little research and discovered that if it is done in parody or spoof then there is no real copyright infringement.

Cyia · Apr 26, 2009

Parody is a different matter. Satires and the like are usually protected as fair use or derivative works (something like that... where are the AW legal type people?)

Two questions: Urban Legends and fairy tales in stories

thegirlwhowrites

Manix

Mutatis mutandis

thegirlwhowrites

Manix

Mutatis mutandis

Manix

Mutatis mutandis

thegirlwhowrites

thegirlwhowrites

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue

jimpickens

CACTUSWENDY

An old, sappy, and happy one.

lovesaphira

'Here's my card'

Stijn Hommes

Know what you write...

bonitakale

cherubsmummy

Experienced Lurker

archerjoe

Matera the Mad

Bartender, gimme a Linux Mint

jimpickens

lovesaphira

'Here's my card'

bonitakale

lovesaphira

'Here's my card'

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny

PoppysInARow

jimpickens

Cyia

Rewriting My Destiny