Legal question of interest

[InfernoMDM]

Alright lets see if I can say this without confusing people.  This might be a bit difficult.

I am not writing anything, because I can't but here's the hypothetical because it fits the best.

Say someone wants to write in the Dresden Universe, and use the same elements concepts etc, while refraining from using Dresden Murphy etc etc.  Does that violate copywrites?  If yes then what doesn't?  Where does the ownership start stop etc?

[SlimMason]

It is rare to be charged with plagerism, unless you copy and paste a novel.

The real problem is the audiance. If someone other than Jim Butcher writes a Jim Butcher story, the readers will be offended. Jim, and any writer, has some loyal fans. They will hurt you. Beware.

[Kris_W]

In my opinion -

First: The US laws regarding plagiarism and fan fiction are vague and, when law is resorted to, tend to screw over both the original author and the fan author.  Second: Creating your own story universe is infinitely more satisfying in the long run. Yes, it’s insanely tiring, frustrating, and complex enough to cause week-long headaches, but still, more satisfying. Third: When writing in someone else’s world you are not learning the craft of writing. All you are seeing is the end product and trying to make something of it. It’s sort of like thinking that knitting a scarf will teach you how to raise sheep.

Yes, you can ‘file off the serial numbers’. But to do that suitably you need to move beyond filing and into the realm of sculpture.

Best of luck, whatever you decide.

[AverageGuy]

If you're playing around in what's recognizably Butcher's universe, then you're violating copyright.  On the plus side, as long as you aren't an idiot and don't try publishing your fan fiction, you'll be more likely to get a cease and desist notice than get sued if you get caught.  C&D should be good enough to demonstrate that the author's protecting his/her intellectual property.  If you ignored that, they might take further action.

If you want to be a writer, as in eventually get published, there are a lot of authors who say it's better creatively to just make up your own universe.  If all you want is to write fanfic for your own amusement, well, just don't post it here.  Authors have to defend their copyright to make sure other people don't start selling, for instance, new Harry Dresden books, but writing stuff in your notebook shouldn't cause problems in that regard.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

It is rare to be charged with plagerism, unless you copy and paste a novel.
The real problem is the audiance. If someone other than Jim Butcher writes a Jim Butcher story, the readers will be offended. Jim, and any writer, has some loyal fans. They will hurt you. Beware.

Writing with essentially the same elements and concepts is to my mind worth it if, and only if, you have something meaningful to say that's engaging with, or responding to, something about the original text.  As, for example, Donald Kingsbury's Psychohistorical Crisis is thinking through the consequences of how Asimov's Foundation universe works.  I'm also inclined to think Jim's universe would be a particularly bad one to want to do this with because of how tight the overall plot shape is, I really see very little in the books that does not serve the overall story, and without that particular overall story, messing around in that universe would be a bit directionless.

So, InfernoMDM, what do you intend to say that would make your books worth reading ?  What prevents them from being more-of-the-same-only-less-good ?

[Roaram]

 you can write a story taking place in the same universe as another story as long as you have permission. I know your not writing a book in the dresden universe, but say you did, it was good, and you wanted to sell it, you could go to the dresden publisher, or butcher, whoever owns the rights basically, and see if they would publish it.
many publishers use established universes to try out new writers, and get their names known. that's why you see so many star wars, star trek, dragonlance, warhammer books out there.

as for copywrite infringment, legally speaking, the holder of the copywrite has to proove that you stole their ideas. and as before mentioned it is very hard to proove that an idea is stolen, not just similar. plus if the holder of the copywrite borrowed their themes and elmemnts, it is much harder to proove.  for example, how many books have we all read that have evil wizards and orcs verses an alliance of elves dwarves and men? I have personnally read like five trilogys that copy the lord of the rings, almost to the point of story arc, and they didn't get sued. just because the similarities are all classic archtypes.
so its all about the points of similarities between two works. if you leave characters and specific names out of a dresden copy, you just have magic hiding in the real world, and you are in as much danger of getting sued by the owners of buffy or harry potter as you are of dresden.

[Starbeam]

many publishers use established universes to try out new writers, and get their names known. that's why you see so many star wars, star trek, dragonlance, warhammer books out there.

I can't comment on some of these series, but I do know that Star Wars does not do this.  Not unless the way they do things has changed in the last several years, and from the authors I've seen, they haven't.  All of the Star Wars expanded universe novels are written by established authors, and the publisher approaches the author. It might have been different before the deal with Del Ray, but with the New Jedi Order series, and pretty much every series afterward, the storyline has been a collaboration among several authors, or between a couple.  As for the story itself, I'm a little less sure about that, but I'm pretty certain those are also collaborations, and working with some Lucasfilm employees to keep the continuity correct.

As for the original question, it violates copyright if trying to publish without permission of the author.  The most recent case was the one with JK Rowling and the fansite trying to publish an unofficial book.  It was ruled copyright infringement.  I forget the exact type of book that the guy was trying to publish, but it was basically like an encyclopedia.  I think that anything written in a previously created world, either using or not using the characters already created, would be considered some kind of violation of copyright if the person doing the writing is trying to publish.  Unless the writer has permission.  Otherwise it just falls under the heading of fan fiction.  The one way around, I believe, is if the work itself is a parody, like Bored of the Rings.  And hopefully there's someone that'll actually understand what I wrote.

[AverageGuy]

you can write a story taking place in the same universe as another story as long as you have permission. I know your not writing a book in the dresden universe, but say you did, it was good, and you wanted to sell it, you could go to the dresden publisher, or butcher, whoever owns the rights basically, and see if they would publish it.

In this specific example, the Dresden universe would be JB's intellectual property.